Another one of the great "Shoes" books. Noel Streatfeild used some of the knowledge from her own life to look at things most children's writers (excepting the greatest ones, the folk and fairy tale creators) don't: work, money, and envy. I read this one several times sixty years ago and remember it in detail.
The great ones leave indelible memories.

Loved this one as a kid

Ahhhh Aunt Cora never improves. But saying goodbye to Bella and the others was sad. I do wish Jane would have had better personal growth but she really didn’t have much encouragement. I was very sad they didn’t show her reunion with Chewing-Gum. I want very much to find a copy for myself however. I had a slow start due to the holidays but once I picked it up again, I flew through it. I couldn’t put it down. Five stars all around.

looks good

Wonderful read, and very unexpected too. I'd forgotten just how great her other books are and I'm so glad I gave this a chance. The writing is sweet and warm and the children's adventures are full of wonder. The Christmas scenes in particular really moved me, and the beginning of the book, about the family's first steps in America, is hilarious. I enjoyed this very very much and I can't wait to read and reread more of her work.

I didn't know this existed! Much better than Curtain Up - less samey.

It's not ballet shoes...

Unlike so many of the other shoes books, the children in this one aren't as nice, and honestly, you don't root for them in the same way you root for the others. Tim is probably the closest child that you root for, because he constantly goes out and looks for how to practice piano and is less whiny. The parents also are very disengaged from the children. However, I loved seeing Posy as an adult. By far that was my favorite part of the book!

I like it but probably would have loved it had I read it - or other books in the series - as a child. My rating falls somewhere between three and four stars. (I like to think I'll find the time to read Ballet Shoes soon.)

The Winter family is spending the winter in California for Mr. Winter's health. Rachel, the eldest, is a promising ballet dancer; while Tim, the youngest, has considerable musical talent. But poor Jane in the middle not only lacks a visible talent, she is also not nearly as attractive as her siblings.

Then an amazing thing happens -- because of her resemblance to Mary Lennox in The Secret Garden, she is offered the part in a movie. This is Jane's chance to prove that she too can do something -- but it turns out to be harder than she expects.

Better known as Movie Shoes, this story follows the three Winter children from their London home to the shores of Santa Monica in order for their father to recuperate from a nervous breakdown in the warm climate of his sister’s home. Like in Ballet Shoes (a favorite of mine as a girl), the youngest and the eldest children hold the recognizable talent and looks in the family and the middle child is prickly and difficult.

The story opens with Tim, Jane, and Rachel eavesdropping on the doctor’s conversation with their mother, trying desperately to learn if their father will ever recover from the shock of accidentally killing a child who runs in front of his car. The doctor’s advice of sending him to a sunny climate for the winter holds little hope, but a letter is sent to the children’s aunt, who has lived in California for many years. A positive response from her — inviting the whole family to visit — and a surprise inheritance for their mother’s friend and the children’s nanny to fund the trip set the stage for an international adventure.

First there’s travel — on trains and an ocean liner; then there are the cultural differences. And then when they reach California, they find their aunt is unbearable, prone to taking to bed with nerves and sick headaches, and unwilling to share much beyond room and board (which the adults agree is still terribly generous of her). Plus, she seems to stand in the way — intentionally or otherwise — of what each child wants most out of the California trip: for Rachel, a chance to meet with the famed Posy Fossil and to take dance lessons; for Jane, a friendly dog to hang out with; and for Tim, a piano upon which to practice.

Luckily, what the children seem to learn in America is that generally its inhabitants are friendly and inclined to help you out. Posy tracks Rachel down, gets her an audition, and takes her under her wing; Aunt Cora’s cook, Bella, helps Tim track down a piano upon which to practice and generally counsels him to keep a positive outlook on things; and Jane encounters a sympathetic dog owner who also happens to be a director about to film The Secret Garden, but whose star suddenly became unavailable. The family’s six months in the U.S. offers up wild adventures — but will these be enough in the end to keep them on this side of the Atlantic?

[A couple notes:

* One, I bought my copy second-hand, and all but the first page of Chapter 16 is missing.
* Two, I believe I own this book back at my folks’ as Movie Shoes but was lured into buying it again because of the title difference. (For what it’s worth, Movie Shoes is the later, American title.) It was totally the mention of the return of the Fossil sisters that grabbed me and made me buy it.
* Three, in looking into the title question, I have learned that this is a revised and abridged version of the book. I had been surprised by how casually they worked food parcels into the story. Had I not read/watched 84, Charing Cross Road, I certainly wouldn’t have realized how long food shortages and rationing went on in England and recognized the reference. Apparently some of the other things they cut referred to similar bits of British post-World War II restrictions.

Although the book wasn’t nearly as good as I remember it being, nor as good as Ballet Shoes remains, it was still an enjoyable read. I’d recommend it to those who an enjoy a Pollyanna-type ending to their stories.

I have read Movie Shoes many time and decided to read the British edition. I expected to see lorries changed to trucks and British spellings changed to American ones. I was delighted to see all the additional material that was not in Movie Shoes such as the train ride from New York to California through Chicago. The characters were more fully developed in the longer work and it was delightful.