I like the Winter family (even truculent Jane), and I love reading about their adventurous journey to Hollywood (they travel across America in a train! I am so jealous). It's one of NS's best stories, and we get to meet Sylvia, Nana, Pauline and Posy again, and hear about what Petrova is up to. My Puffin edition is also illustrated by Shirley Hughes, just line drawings of course, but beautifully done.

The descriptions of film-making are fascinating - but so are the descriptions of America, and family life on both sides of the Atlantic - it's a very absorbing book! The characterisation is, as usual, spot on, and NS captures exactly what siblings say to each other, how they feel and what they do.

As an adult reader, I am slightly miffed that nobody called Peaseblossom moved in to make my life easier after I had my first baby. But I still enjoy the story. Wall to wall sunshine from the moment they arrive, for a start. What's not to like?

The painted garden : the story of a holiday in Hollywood by Noel Streatfeild (1949)

California, here they come! The Winters family spends several months in Hollywood so father Bob can recuperate away from the damp London winter. The three kids are at first dismayed to be leaving beloved activities and pets behind. For Rachel it is her dance lessons; for Jane, her beloved dog Chewing Gum; and for Tim, his piano lessons. After a brief adjustment period at Aunt Cora's, each finds a way to flourish in California. Loved the varied roads of discovery for each of the kids and the rewind back to the late 40's. Their nanny Peaseblossom is a delight as is Bella, the maid at Aunt Cora's. And what a nice surprise to have the Fossil sisters from Ballet Shoes make a reappearance. Had to request this title from another library system and it was worth the trouble.

I definitely have a Streatfeild addiction. Okay, maybe it’s more like nostalgic love. I like Movie Shoes because the plot gets varied a bit and because it contains what I choose to interpret as a veiled jab at the butchering of stories in movie adaptations. [Nov. 2008]

read all of the Shoes books but this was my favorite. the movie in the book was The Secret Garden, and I loved that book too. fascinated to hear about the behind the scenes stuff.

I must have read this before, since my copy is an ex-library copy from the Bethlehem Public Library, with Bethlehem crossed out and Parr written in in a childish hand. Anyway, it's not the best of the shoe books, although it's very satisfying when the apparently least-talented child does make a success in the end. But the problem is what we used to call "casual racism." Setting the book in America prompts Streatfeild to write a "Mammy" part for one of the servants, and it's toe-curling. The Italian accents are no better. Go read Ballet Shoes instead, it's perfect!

Prefer the original title, The Painted Garden...

I don't know why I never read Noel Streatfeild's books as a child. Now that I've read one, I think I'll try another.

I've read this book so many times, the cover has fallen off, and the pages are yellowed from being outdoors and traveling across England when I was in elementary school. But it's fantastic. It's a brilliant portrayal of life for young children in England during the war coming to California, and then trying to adapt. Noel Streatfeild is a wonderful storyteller, and The Painted Garden is, in my opinion, her best. It's the perfect step back in time.

I had to buy this in London, at a book shop that only sold out of print books by English authors, but if you can get your hand on this, you should definitely read it!

Another fun kid's book by Noel Streatfeild, in the tradition of "Ballet Shoes."

I discovered this Streatfeild at boarding school and have loved it ever since.

The Winters have had a bad time as John has been very ill since he had a car accident and he hasn't been able to work since so they have been poor. Britain is also still recovering from World War Two and his wife Bee is feeling pretty low about things until the doctor suggests going abroad to relatives. They decide to write to his sister Cora who lives in California and end up going there for 6 months when the stars align! Rachel the eldest is a talented dancer who studies at Madame Fidolia's Academy, Tim is a budding pianist and Jane doesn't seem to have any talent apart from being reasonably quick at lessons. It is Jane who surprises them all in California.

I found this book as gripping and comforting as ever. I love the way all of the children learn about hard work in California and how Jane learned many lessons and had some glory for a change. Again we get to catch up with Fossils and Posy does some of her naughty imitations. Some of the characters are hilariously drawn. Maurice and Mrs Tuesday and Aunt Cora are particularly vivid. I loved David and Bella too. Reading about sunny California in cold January was a nice escape although of course things aren't great there at the moment with the fires. I noticed bits of history more this time around. Especially the weird rule about not being able to exchange pounds for dollers and how plentiful everything was in America compared to Britain as we still had rationing.

A wonderful book about travelling to a different country and how unexpected things can happen to the least likely people and be the making of them. Streatfeild does family stories with a bit of showbiz thrown in so well.

I liked Jane, the girl who was in the movie. This is my second (and last) Streatfeild. I'm just not enthused enough about the writing. I am too old to get these books, I think. There's not enough time anymore. I wish I liked 'em better, but they strike me as sweet and stale as day old cakes.