I have always loved Noel Streatfeild's books and as a child I got my library to ILL them for me or hunted through second hand book stores to find all of them. She tells the perfect "girls stories". I was always able to find one character in each book that was my favorite. They definitely stand up to re-reads.

Re-read. Love it. It's funny that we think of the Shoes books as being about dancing and performance mainly, but the second one is about tennis! Love it.

Ballet Shoes by Noel Streatfield was actually one of the first books to get me into reading, (and I actually read it again this year) and I’m so grateful that I picked that one when I was 9, and not Tennis Shoes. I just found it incredibly boring, and it may just be that I find tennis much less interesting that theatre or pretty much anything else, but it just took me so long to get through because if just felt like I was reading the same page again. All the interesting events seem to take place in under two pages and everything else is either tennis matches or spoilt children. Top this off with one dimensional and unlikable characters, this book really disappointed me.

Concept: 3/5
Characters: 2/5
Plot: 1.5/5
Writing: 3/5
Ease of reading: 3/5

I really enjoyed this book, it was really sweet! I loved how there was a variety of characters and not just 1 person that was focused on.

This is the Streatfeild I remember best from my childhood although it wasn’t my favorite- and it definitely does not hold together as well as Ballet Shoes.

With the wealthy grandfather swooping in to provide club memberships, coaching, and equipment, the money management angle- always a crucial consideration in the Shoes books- felt forced.there are long digressions followed by big leaps in time. The choice of which life events are important enough to include and which aren’t seems arbitrary and occasionally feels disorienting.

But we still liked it. As fellow contrarians, we generally sided with Nicky. Jim and Susan are SO dull in their conformity. Although Nicky behaves impulsively and often has a poor temper, we felt the lessons meted out by her family to be draconian and occasionally ridiculous. No present for two years while they replace the umbrellas she stole? Did it REALLY take 6 months to save up for an umbrella? Weren’t they just getting wet in the meantime?

And that sense of injustice- as well as things not developing quite as expected- is what embedded in my brain as an 8 or 9 year-old and, based on her outbursts, will likely stick with Lucy too.

I didn't enjoy this as much as Ballet Shoes but I did find it to be a most enjoyable read. :)

2.4

I'm giving this book 3 stars because it's not Streatfeild's fault I don't like it much. I knew that going in; I care not a rap for tennis (or any other sport). It's great if you want to do it, I'm sure it's excellent exercise, but--really? It's like golf; do it if you want to do it, but the only thing less exciting for me on TV is darts or billiards. But you can't go by me; in my youth I did a very little fencing, but if you have to run to get there, I'm not going.

So I ended up skimming all the tennis-championship thing because I found loong descriptions of a sport I've never played boring. I much preferred Annie's circus-related threads, though they were scamped and cut short. Also, I noticed that the silly conceited boy-singer is a repeat motif that appears later in Apple Bough, Theater Shoes et al.

Nicky is so whiny and self-centred I wanted to smack her repeatedly (as I am sure so did the rest of the family). I was amused, I must say, by the entire family sending her to coventry for stamping her foot and throwing her racket on the ground just once, when she messes up on court. Could they not see she was angry with herself for failing--not throwing a "Not Fair!" tantrum a la Nasty Nastase or MacEnro?

Not my best choice, but that's just me. My gut reaction was a shaky 2 stars, but I shouldn't have even gone there and I know that.

Not only do the lucky kids in this book have red hair, they also possess a natural talent for tennis. Gosh, but I was an envious child!