Customer Reviews

Skating Shoes

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I have loved the Shoes series since I first discovered them at my library when I was younger. My favorite is probably Dancing Shoes, but any of these books make wonderful reading for young girls, especially if they dream about being an actress, skater, or dancer. And there is good news for those who wish they could buy some of the books that are out of print in the US. Skating Shoes (also known as White Boots in the UK), Circus Shoes, Party Shoes, and Tennis Shoes are all still in print in England, and can be purchased at amazon.co.uk.

After Ballet Shoes, of course, this is my favorite of the Shoes books. And with the recent interest in skating because of Sarah Hughes, I think this one should be reprinted. What I like about this one is that the heroine is a gawky "daddy long-legs" girl who turns out to be a real skating star after being in her friend's shadow. And her friend, Lalla, who is the shining star in the early part of the book suffers from the perils of early success and of a "stage mother" or "skating mom" in a very realistic way. Despite her being a bit of a spoiled girl, we really come to like her. Probably the most balanced and realistic characterizations of the Shoe books. It's formulaic, of course, but we Shoe fans love the formula.

I love this book. When I was a kid, I literally read our copy to pieces. It fell apart. I taped it together, but that didn't keep.

So I was thrilled to see it back in print with a spiffy new cover! Look at that!

I'm reading it to my just-turned-seven year old niece right now. I'm surprised at how much she's taken to it, given that it's really a fairly old-fashioned book (and British besides!), with long, complex sentences; time taken to introspect the grownups; and mentions of weird things like pre-1970s English money, rationing, and skating figures. But she loves it! I guess it's not THAT much of a surprise, I loved it too at her age : )

Just FYI, Streatfeild's books are a little formulaic - you have the talented child and the untalented (but secretly REALLY gifted child), the star and the shadow, and the family togetherness. It's a formula that works, and it's in full force in this book - the shadow discovers she has a real talent, the talented star discovers that she's not THAT gifted, the stage mother (aunt, really) gets hers, the poor family is helped by a combination of friendship and bootstraps, the various teachers worry about every aspect of the whole child - pretty much what you expect. Good story, satisfying ending, classic literature, you have to love it!

However, there is one major issue that flaws this specific edition. It's been badly edited and is full of typos. Often, "Lalla" and "Nana" are written "Laila" and "Nina". Other names are similarly misspelled in various parts, and every chapter has a handful or two of typoed words. This isn't just an English/American spelling issue, I'm talking about actual mistakes.

I grew up in a proofreading household. My mother has no qualms about taking a pencil and correcting errors in books. These are such big, blatant ones that they really jump out at you and break off the enjoyment of the reading. This is a big disappointment, of course, so I took off one star. This would've been a 4 star review if the book were edited better. I hope this problem can be remedied in future printings.

And the customer asked about the "Shoes" books, and a monologue about the wonders of Noel Streatfeild's "Shoes" books ensued, touching on Dancing Shoes, Ballet Shoes, and Skating Shoes, which is absolutely wonderful? That scene made me break down crying, because I had never heard anyone other than myself talk about these terrific books, and the fact that it is tragic that they are mostly out of print and hard to find. This book is a wonderful story of working hard for a goal, and accomplishing it, or at least getting on the road to achieving a reasonable, yet magical, goal. If you want a great book for your favorite elementary school girl, buy this one - then buy the other "Shoes" books (and get a copy of Tennis Shoes for your favorite boy too!)

As a mother who screens and usually enjoys everything her 11-year-old daughter gets to read, I had been hoping for more children's fiction on ice-skating (like Michelle Kwan's "Skating Dreams" and Melissa Lowell's "Silver Blades" series) then there are currently in print. So I was pretty happily surprised to see "Skating Shoes" by Noel Streatfeild of the "Shoes" series fame on the list for Amazon's New Releases. As another reviewer pointed out, this is a somewhat "old-fashioned" series - but that's, of course, part of its charm. Streatfeild didn't see a need to ignore the parent figures in her characters - in fact, they are what make her characters the way they are. One of my issues with kids' books now is how adults are either absent or made to look stupid - I appreciate the concept of child empowerment, but, ultimately, kids need to know how to deal with everyone, not just kids their age, and certainly not with the conviction that they can do everything in an adultless vacuum, or with the view that adults don't know anything.

My one issue with this book is also, like the other reviewer, with the typos in the book, and it's not just this book, sadly. Publishers and copy editors need to realise that it's embarrassing when an 11-year-old can proof-read better than they can. ... Hmmm, maybe kids *are* smarter than adults!! What do I know? I'm only one more "big-person"!

But let me get off this high horse: here's said daughter's take on the book (the five-stars rating is hers - I had to take one star off mine for the copy-editors' reliance on Spell-Check!):

"The book, 'Skating Shoes' by Noel Streatfeild was wonderful.

"When Harriet Johnson's doctor prescribes skating after an illness that has left her looking like a daddy long-legs, it is a brilliant stroke of luck when she meets orphaned Lalla Moore, future skating champion. The girls form a fast friendship as Lala's instructors give Harriet and Lalla Moore lessons together. However, just as Lalla's interest in skating fades, Harriet's natural talent begins to emerge after several years. Luckily, in the end, the girls continue to be friends and everything is giggerty-geggerty.

"My favorite part in the book was when Harriet and Lalla look into the soup Harriet's mom is making and Lalla says, 'Giggerty-geggerty, I can't wait. Imagine if that soup could show the future. Don't you all want to know what happens to Harriet and me? Because I do.' It was so satisfying!

"I would recommend this five-star book to anyone interested in skating and friendships. Plus, if you really like the book like I did, you can read 'Ballet Shoes', 'Dancing Shoes' and 'Theater Shoes', all by Noel Streatfeild. Trust me, they are all awesome."

Exellent produt and seller. I would purchase product from this seller again and again.

I suggest picking up a copy of SKATING SHOES for the ruff-and-tumble young lady of your household. This is the only one of the "Shoe" books that held my attention past the end of the first page -- the other's were just so-o girly! As a kid I put them in the same category as the Little House on the Prairie set (GAG). However, this one caught my attention with the description of Harriet's appearance and her family interaction and it kept me to the end with the antics of competition.

I usually love anything by this author but this book was not good. The characters and story line were very disappointing.