I've been wanting to reread this for a while and the ice skating at the Olympics pushed me over the edge. I finished it a while ago, but I'm late catching up on reviews at the moment.

It did send me down a rabbit hole of exactly how figure skating as represented in the book compared to what we call figure skating today. The latter grew out of the former, but as in so many sports, skating is aimed at the spectators these days and the time and precision required for actual figure skating was decided to take too long. Nowadays, all the skating we see on TV is what was considered free skating in this book. I can totally see why Harriet turned out to be the one with the skills and temperament to be a figure skater, while Lalla would shine in free skating.

This was a lovely trip down memory lane. I do still like this book very much.

3.5 Stars

There's something ever so cozy about Streatfeild's Shoes series. I am pretty sure that my love for children's British literature has a lot to do with Noel Streatfeild. I loved Ballet Shoes, Dancing Shoes, and Family Shoes when I was young. When I discovered this beautiful edition of Skating Shoes in a children's book store in NYC, I had to buy it for my daughter and read it myself. Skating Shoes takes a lot longer to get moving than other Shoes novels, but I loved that I could hear so clearly the charming British accents among friends Harriet and Lalla. I wanted to have Nana knit for me and make me tea. There is something so comforting in moving along in the British rhythms of the day. Skating Shoes is more about two friends learning school figures than working on free skating and school figures, as Lalla knows, are somewhat tedious and often dull. The skating isn't really what makes this book great. It's more about the transformation of a lonely girl (Lalla) and what happens when she meets Harriet and how two friends can open up the world of possibilities to each other.

I spent much of my childhood reading and rereading the Ballet Shoes/Dancing Shoes/Theater Shoes trifecta with NO KNOWLEDGE that there were more????? Obviously I'm no longer really the right age for these, and as an adult the particular patterns in the books are all more obvious (the kindly doctor! the domineering and/or unpleasant mother figure! the kindly father figure who means well but refuses to stand up to the domineering and/or unpleasant mother figure! the unexpected child rising from behind to suddenly be the star!) but they're still charming even if they are decidedly from a particular age.

This was also charming! I don't think it's quite as charming as the others I've read though, but I undoubtedly have nostalgia filters on.

DnF 8.12.24

Couldn't get into it :/

This is part of Streatfeild’s well known “Shoes” series, and one I don’t remember reading as a child. While the personalities are well drawn, I felt that the whole part of the main family being poor was unnecessary. It’s a contrast with the rich, slightly spoiled girl. It just didn’t add anything to the story. The poor girl, Harriet, is instructed to take skating lessons to give her some strength after an unnamed long illness. She becomes friends with the star of the skating rink, the aforesaid rich kid named Lalla. Harriet, whose name even feels plain compared to “Lalla”, works hard at the skating and is innately talented at it. How to solve the problem of Harriet suddenly appearing better than Lalla, who is supposed to be the star? Read to find the solution. The supporting characters were the best drawn. The cheerful sensible mother, the ignored but loving and kind uncle, the kind doctor who is not prepared to be fooled, the employer who takes a hand in helping Harriet’s brother carry out his dream. The governess and Nana are also well drawn characters.
Once you’ve read a few of these “Shoes” stories, you pretty much know what to expect. I loved them as a kid. And I sat down and read this one in pretty much one sitting. These books are just what kids often want: a predictable story but with enough individuality that kids have comfortable surprises but nothing overwhelmingly earth shaking. This was perfect reading for today for me. Nothing earth shaking to face, just a new possible career for Harriet and an escape from the scary boring world of a pandemic. Recommended especially for kids who want books based on the arts and sports or who liked others in this series.

This is one of the very few books that I reread a million times as a child, but have not really read since, so I only remembered the broad outline of the plot, and didn't necessarily know what was going to happen next at every turn. I enjoyed that so much -- it was like reading it for the first time, but even better because I was already primed for the satisfying emotional moments, even if I couldn't remember what they consisted of.

There's a lot I missed as a kid -- that Lalla is the main character, for example, because Harriet is easier to identify with as a bookish kid who was quiet around strangers. The rationing, because it's just after WW2. The way the male adults are constantly smoking in the presence of kids!

I wish Harriet were better fleshed out -- you are told she becomes more interesting all of a sudden towards the end of the book, but Streatfeild doesn't really tell you *how* she becomes more interesting. But Lalla is such a great character. And all the skating jargon is amazing. I loved Streatfeild's books so much as a kid because the kids all had real work that was important. And I like how White Boots has lots of different examples of the work you could do, and enjoy or value in different ways -- Lalla and Harriet's different kinds of skating, Alec's paper round (which he does and takes pride in because it's getting him to his dreams) and market garden (which is his vocation), Toby's being a pain about numbers.

Also what I didn't have as a kid reading this book was YouTube, and I've finally figured out the difference between Harriet's kind of skating and Lalla's kind. For my own future reference, a video of people doing compulsory figures: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6iSDbt... Which I find really charming, and it explains why Harriet can be stiff and withdrawn and serious and still be a better skater than Lalla.

A cornucopia of family, friends, and figure skating. Harriet Johnson is in need of some good old-fashioned exercise. Her doctor prescribes skating, and with some assistance from the local rink owner Harriet is soon out on the ice. Fortunately, local phenom Lalla is on hand to encourage Harriet and give opportunities for broader experiences including ballet and fencing. Meanwhile one of Harriet's older brothers decides to take on a paper route to help pay for the skate rental and save a bit to help supplement the goods coming in to his dad's store. There are some hilarious bits where the Johnson family describes the goods coming in from the family estate in the country. Mom Olivia is always a good sport. Lalla's Aunt Celia is a piece of work. Those are just a few of the delightful characters we meet in the classic title in the Shoes series. What I love most is the way the siblings support each other how the community also steps alongside with grace and tact when needed. As Lalla would say: "Oh, giggerty-geggerty. Won't they be pleased." And, my favorite, "Guzzle guzzle guzzle, quack quack quack."

Read this when I was younger hundreds of times, so it has to be one of my favourites :)

This is by the author of the memorable "Shoes" books, an old favorite. It is, oddly enough, one of the two books not in the "Shoes" line named after footwear. Trivia, for those of you interested in such. Like the "Shoes" books, it focuses on a young, underprivileged heroine fortuitously encountering a greatly privileged counterpart and forging a friendship that benefits and develops both lives, surviving jealousy, etc.

However, this particular story isn't up to Ms. Streatfeild's own level of achievement. It starts off in much the same tone and manner as the others I am familiar with, but not only does she seriously undermine the entertainment of the plot and characters by attempting to create a more serious tone and manner, but she fails to develop the young supporting characters in the manner to which we have become accustomed (it's all right if the grownups are fairly limited, dimensionally speaking, but her children are almost always very human and believable. I believe it's one of the ways we see she's a genius: she can make a fully-dimensioned, relatable human being in a very few words.) and she switches out the main character on us!!! And leaves the original main character off to the side like last year's birthday present. so sad.

So, despite the usual cast of comfortable, lovable grownups, contrasting scary grownup, believable hardships overcome in a believable manner, whimsical and humorous narration, and clever little line drawings for illustration, I have to say this book is not nearly up to par, and pretty darn disappointing.

I read this growing up and have revisited it over the years. This time, coming back to it, I find myself deeply empathetic for poor vivid madamish overwhelmed Lalla, caught in an adult world frozen in memorial to her father, and in love with Harriet's comfortable bustling teasing tumbling family, with her entrepreneurial and industrious brothers, and her splendid, loving mother. I love how all the characters--Max Lindblom, Sam, Miss Goldthorpe, Nana--who make up the adult cast of the book are all so distinctive and sympathetic and themselves interesting, and I love how much they loved and were interested in the children under their care. But I couldn't help also feeling the rather unfinished quality of the book, where the ending is abrupt and unsatisfactory and the pacing is odd. I wanted to see Harriet take her inter-silver and I wanted to see where the brothers' garden plot (literally) went, and I wanted to see Lalla blossom as a performer.

So much to love in this one! My very favorite thing is the characters who surround the two girls, especially Uncle David, Olivia, Nana, Miss Goldthorpe, and Harriet’s three brothers. I love that lonely Lalla gets to belong to Harriet’s family and that Harriet benefits from the things Lalla’s household offers her. I really enjoyed Miss Goldthorpe on this reading. I love the Shakespeare in her head and her expertise at her work. I love her genuine love and care for Harriet and Lalla. I love the outings she arranges and her friendship with Harriet’s mother Olivia. Aunt Claudia is a piece of work, but she’s not cruel thankfully. She’s a bit touchy and a bit self centered. But she is a very mild “villain” and the other characters always find ways to work around her.

What a lovely story! First published in 1951, this is a story for young girls about a spoilt only child who is destined to become the next skating star who receieves her comeuppance when she makes friends with a poor, ill child who is prescribed to take up skating to improve the strength in her legs. White Boots explores the friendship between the two girls, their winnings and failures as amateur skaters and the lifestyles of the two very different families. Streatfeild can write very humorously sometimes, considering this book was written in the 50s. In general, just a lovely children's book. 9/10