It was really long I liked how it added other characters from the series.

The only Streatfeild I didn't like. Could not warm up to the children in this story at all.

This is definitely one of my favorite of the Shoe books. Each and every character (except Aunt Cora but even she gets better) is a delight with so much personality. I loved seeing how each Winter (and Peaseblossom) adapted to being in California.

bought for Mom on ebay, $3.38+shipping. Also, this is not the correct edition.

Title: tThe Painted Garden: A Story of a Holiday in Hollywood (Puffin Books)
Author: tNoel Streatfield
Publisher: tPuffin Books
Binding: tPaperback
Publisher Date: t29/01/1976
Item Condition:tused-good
ISBN No: t0140301577
SKU No: tW3-L1-R072A-04915

The Winter family goes from London to California for their father's health, staying with their Aunt Cora in Santa Monica. It takes a little getting-used to for Rachel, Tim, and Jane. Rachel's ballet teacher connects her with Posy Fossil from Ballet Shoes to continue her training. Tim is an excellent pianist, horrified to find that Aunt Cora has no piano. Plain Jane is a bit left out and unhappy to be leaving her beloved dog behind. She meets a neighbor who is a movie director and sees her as perfect for the part of Mary in The Secret Garden which he wants to film. But will she be able to overcome her crankiness and do a proper job of acting? Another charming 'Shoes' book.

Reading the British version, The Painted Garden, which has some significant differences from Movie Shoes.

So the major things cut out, from what I could see, were more detail about America and some key stuff about Bella the black servant and the Antonios. The dialogue for them was VERY stereotyped, and there were a few things about Aunt Cora not wanting the Antonios around her that I don't remember from Movie Shoes.

It's funny to me that I love Jane so much in this book, since Rachel is the ballerina and I always like the ballerinas. But then I find Rachel insufferable, and Jane a grumpy delight.

This book definitely fueled my imagination -- and made me want to be in movies -- when I was young.

Interesting and very enjoyable. Now I really want to read Ballet Shoes.

During the summer I was eight, I chose this for the plane ride to my grandparents'. And even though we went to the library at least twice a week, I read it over and over again. Not only does Streatfeild give the perfect shout-out to The Secret Garden, she brings back the Fossils! I still get excited when Rachel has lunch with Posy and Pauline.

Aunt Cora is one of my favorite Streatfeild characters. She's so selfish and whiny, and her type doesn't really appear in any of the other Shoes books.

I didn't know "Good King Wenceslas" when I was eight, so it was only later that I appreciated the "California, Here I Come" scene.

I enjoy trying and failing to picture myself as a modern-day Peaseblossom.

Once again a rags to riches story. This one left me extremely envious as I often fantasized about a Hollywood producer one day discovering me and casting me on the spot. I've yet to see my name in lights.

Rereading for the first time in probably 25 years, it was a pleasant surprise to uncover so much nuance within this novel. Whilst relocating to the sun for reasons of health is a common trope, the premise for the family's move to California from post-war England feels unusual for the time, especially through such a sympathetic lens with the father experiencing what is essentially PTSD, described as 'a nervous breakdown', after accidentally killing a child with his car.

Children in this era of literature are often tedious but in emulating The Secret Garden's Mary Lennox, Streatfeild offers a wonderfully truculent heroine in aspiring professional dog walker Jane, who prefers animals to most people. Flawed but relatable (though perhaps only to us who were equally 'difficult' children...), she lives in the shadow of two talented siblings, motivated by a combination of hoping to finally prove herself but also a believable element of jealousy towards her sister and brother who until now have received the majority of positive attention.

The exploits of the siblings are less interesting, but include a welcome return to the Fossil sisters a decade after the events of Ballet Shoes.

In some places this book is sadly of its time and whilst Streatfeild continues to be more compassionate than many of her contemporaries, some of the depictions of black servants are misguided.

When I was a child, I never really thought about how strange it was that Bee's school friend moved in to help her raise her family. Now that I'm an adult and have read Savage Love a time or two, it seems kind of polyamorous.