Let's Bust a Recap : Ballet Shoes

Okay, you guys, I've wanted to read the Shoe Books ever since 1998 when I first saw You've Got Mail which is one of my all time favorite movies to this day. In the movie, Kathleen Kelly's little Shop Around the Corner has just closed and she makes her way to the children's section in Fox Books. A frazzled mom comes in looking for the "Shoe Books" and Kathleen Kelly proceeds to tell the clueless sales associate everything he needs to know to find the books. Click here to watch the scene. It's a gem.

I've never been able to find the books but in 2018, they got a makeover and were republished by Random House Children's Books. I immediately added the four books mentioned in You've Got Mail to my amazon wishlist and my sweet husband (ever my book-enabler) got them for me for my birthday last year. It was a no-brainer for a Shoe Book to have a slot on my 2020 book list, and naturally I had to follow Kathleen Kelly's advice to start with Ballet Shoes (her favorite). 

And the flawless Kathleen Kelly did not lead me astray. I enjoyed every charming second with this lovely children's novel.

Ballet Shoes by Noel Streatfeild was originally published in 1936 by J.M. Dent & Sons. It was Streatfeild's first book for children, and since its publication it has been adapted twice for the screen and also been included on BBC's list of the 100 Most Inspiring Novels. In it, we are introduced to Pauline, Petrova, and Posy Fossil; three adopted sisters who were each discovered as babies by Great-Uncle-Matthew (lovingly referred to as "Gum") and sent back home to his niece Sylvia who raises them with the help of her childhood nanny, Nana. When Gum doesn't return home from his expedition abroad in the promised five years, Sylvia falls into financial hardship and decides to take on boarders to help make ends meet. One of the boarders helps Sylvia arrange to have the girls enrolled in the Children's Academy of Dancing and Stage Training so that they can learn a skill that will help provide for themselves and the household. 

I loved every minute. The girls' unique personalities and talents, their relationships with the boarders who become like family, the lessons they learn; with each turn of the page I couldn't stop smiling. Highly recommend you give this one a look and then just for fun, go watch You've Got Mail. I can't wait for my next Shoe Book. (Next in publication order would be Theater Shoes, but I'm tempted to skip ahead to Skating Shoes as that's the other one Kathleen Kelly particularly loves.)

Have you read any of the Shoe Books? Have you ever been inspired to read something just because it was mentioned in a movie or TV show you were enjoying?