I hate Nicky. She reminds me of my sister. I like the other characters and the story line. I love the writing style and the funny little dialogues. I would have enjoyed the book if Nicky hadn't been so horrible and awful and disgustingly selfish through the entire thing.

Hmm, an interesting one, a Streatfeild about SPORTS, gasp! The pacing didn't quite work and I do think the family treated Nicky rather unfairly at times.

But enjoyable enough overall.

Got it for Mom on ebay, 0.99GBP+shipping.

The Shoes books absolutely delighted me when I was a child, so revisiting this book again as an adult was a treat. This particular story follows the story of four children who are pushed somewhat into tennis, which they're agreeable enough about. Of course one child (as per the series guidelines) has to excel, though they all discover new things about themselves in the pursuit of the game.

Loved the series, loved the time period and a chance to visit England again during the mid 20th century, which is a nice treat. I still love these books, even if this one did sometimes lag a little bit, as the characters are so incredibly strong and interesting. Overall, I'm glad I read this again, though perhaps with a little less of the starry-eyed wonder than I did back when I was 11. :)

Another masterpiece from Streatfeild. The description of the life of a child who chooses to become a professional athlete is very different from most kid's books. I remember enjoying this immensely and rereading it more than once.

Sports, to me, is something that might be interesting if you're doing it, but not at all interesting to watch, or god forbid, read about. Actually, most of the things I rather enjoy doing I'd rather not read about, and most of the things I enjoy reading about I'd much rather not endure personally. But sport in particular has always baffled me, and the thought that millions of people happily observe others doing it remains a puzzlement.

So it's a measure of how good a writer she is that despite there being quite a lot of tennis in this book (and if not actual tennis, then tennis practice, tennis coaching, tennis discussion, saving for tennis rackets, tennis clothes, tennis tennis tennis tennis ...) I still enjoyed it, although surely I'd have liked it better, perhaps even given it the rare 5-star rating, had it been a pair of shoes I like better than sports ... landscape design, or musical theatre composition, or perfumery.

She's written several others, so having got a sports-themed one out of the way successfully, and it wasn't that bad, I have high hopes for the next one. Although as I write this I am suddenly aware of how very many specialized shoes there are particularly for sports. We shall see! Having learned that these aren't sequels, but more of a themed series (like those darling The Dutch Twins, The Japanese Twins etc.) I may if I choose skip the occasional book, like if I get to "Football Shoes" or "Lacrosse Shoes" or worse, something like "Arc-Welding Shoes." I know I won't be confused by the plots of the successive books, thank goodness.

(Note: I'm a writer, so I suffer when I offer fewer than five stars. But these aren't ratings of quality, they're a subjective account of how much I liked the book: 5* = an unalloyed pleasure from start to finish, 4* = really enjoyed it, 3* = readable but not thrilling, 2* = disappointing, and 1* = hated it.)

Well researched and with some charming characters but just a bit dry if you don't like tennis.

Lovely , easy read
Interesting advice on training , especially as watching Wimbledon during past fortnight
Does not have the emotional pull of some of her other books but great on families/ siblings
Last chapter is a bid odd and seemed an odd way to finish the book

I liked this one ^_^ In fact, I preferred it to Ballet Shoes... and yet here I am giving it the same rating. Hmm. Perhaps I truly should have given Ballet shoes a 3.... but I have my loyalty to Kathleen Kelly at stake, and that is something I am not willing to forego. So 4 stars they shall both be.

This really was a charming book, and I do like how Noel Streatfield writes. Most of the time she knows exactly what it feels like to be child... It is at times relatable, and at times took me back a couple of years.

A reason I preferred this one was probably the tennis factor: I've played tennis most of my life, so it was very easy and natural for me to read all the references... I loved it.

Nicky was insufferable, though.

She improved a little bit... and it's true, sometimes, though I hate to say it, I could relate to her.... more than I care to say ;) But most of the time she was just unbearable. This could be overlooked, with the presence of the other characters, who were all lovely. My favourite was Annie. Ahhh I loved her!

Altogether, there was a thread of overall strangeness, but I'm finding that's just how Noel writes, and it's nice and a bit of a change :)

{P.S I simply adore this edition of the books, they're so pretty! Also, at the back there is some backstory of the book, and it said Noel Streatfield wasn't sporty so had to do reams of study for this book, and at the end decided she hated tennis! (-sad face-) but 'this feeling changed' and it became one of her favourite books :)}

2.5

Not the best book. Honestly, I found it rather bland.

Infuriatingly, I can't add a photo of the cover for this edition. I've done it when adding an edition for the first time, but don't want to duplicate editions (because I can see why this annoys GoodReads). So, I'm a bit put out.

But that's about right for this book. It is probably NS's funniest - it is hugely entertaining, and don't worry if you don't care for tennis (it bores me rigid) because you don't actually learn a great deal about it, any more than you will be able to pirouette after reading Ballet Shoes. Where this book really scores is:

1. Sibling relationships. Again. NS is absolutely brilliant at this (and if you've read A Vicarage Family you'll know why).

2. How much hard work and practice is essential to do well in the long term, even if you do happen to have a brilliant talent in something (tennis, in this case, of course). Frankly this is a lesson which everybody needs to learn, and the earlier the better, and it's very well conveyed here.

But the reason I'm a bit put out is because there just isn't enough of it. I want to know more about this family, more about what happened to Nicky and her siblings. NS writes economically - this is good - and realistically - also good. But I do think she could have spread herself a bit more here. I get the feeling that she knew she'd produced the best ending ever for a book when she wrote Ballet Shoes, and just decided not to try very hard for the next one (and indeed several of her books seem to end rather abruptly).

Still, it's definitely worth a read.

I have always loved Noel Streatfeild's books -- as a child and as an adult reading them to my daughters. This was not one of my favorites, but I also am not a huge tennis fan. My nine year old daughter really liked it :).