Noel Streatfeild Summary

Mary Noel Streatfeild called herself a misfit in the vicarage family of her birth. In more than eighty children's and adults' books, however, she often drew on an imaginative, rebellious girlhood. Bor... Read more

Critical Essay by Phyllis Bentley Too much of Parson's Nine reads like E. M. Delafield's Diary of a Provincial Lady with the wit left out. The Reverend David Thurston's wife stru... Read more

Critical Essay by Ellen Lewis Buell ["Ballet Shoes"] gradually shapes itself into an interpretation of the nature of a dramatic artist's talents as well as a detailed description... Read more

Critical Essay by George Dangerfield Readers of fiction are now pretty familiar with the theme of the decay of an English upper middle class family. It is a pleasure to report that Miss Streatfeild&#... Read more

Critical Essay by Ellen Lewis Buell The 10 to 14 year-olds who learned about the training of London stage children in Noel Streatfeild's original and entertaining "Ballet Shoes" ... Read more

Critical Essay by May Lamberton Becker ["Circus Shoes"] will entertain the family. Noel Streatfeild began as a writer of fiction for adults; the success of her first story for children,... Read more

Critical Essay by Ellen Lewis Buell The ten to fourteen year old readers who enjoyed "Circus Shoes" and Noel Streatfeild's earlier books are due for a shock with ["The Sec... Read more

Critical Essay by May Lamberton Becker The English author who rolled up an American public by lively stories of young folks working and playing in ballet shoes, tennis shoes and circus shoes, widens ... Read more

Critical Essay by Dorotha Dawson [Theater Shoes is another] spirited and charming story that compares well in style [with the popular Ballet Shoes]…. Vivid and interesting details of stage tra... Read more

Critical Essay by Josephine E. Lynch [Party Shoes] describes in detail the preparations for and many characters involved in giving a pageant. Details may become boring to many readers, although Strea... Read more

Critical Essay by Ellen Lewis Buell One of the most engaging qualities about the children in Noel Streatfeild's stories is that they have their normal quota of human frailty. It is a debatable... Read more

Critical Essay by Naomi Lewis With its Cinderella-in-the-film-studios motif [The Painted Garden, British title of Movie Shoes] should be wildly popular, and cause considerable juvenile discontent... Read more

Critical Essay by The Christian Science Monitor Simple in plot and construction, ["The Parson's Nine"] is, nevertheless, delightfully readable. The author possesses to a remarkab... Read more

Critical Essay by Marjory Stoneman Douglas [The Caldwell children in "Mothering Sunday"] had neglected their mother and would have gone on neglecting her if someone had not reported tha... Read more

Critical Essay by Louise S. Bechtel The "shoes" [in "Skating Shoes," the American title of "White Boots"] are those of young professional skaters. Lalla, the... Read more

Critical Essay by Louise S. Bechtel [In "The Picture Story of Britain"], a famous author does a good job for a prospective traveler of about twelve to fifteen…. [The text covers]... Read more

Critical Essay by Claire Huchet Bishop ["The First Book of the Ballet"] is for girls and their parents who are fortunate enough to live not too far from a good teacher. It is the story ... Read more

Critical Essay by Naomi Lewis The rarest good books are about ordinary life today; one must admire, therefore, the expert hand behind The Bell Family—a particularly pleasant reminder of the na... Read more

Critical Essay by Mary Welsh From the very first page [of "Family Shoes," American title of "The Bell Family"] we are immediately in [the Bells' house, sharing thei... Read more

Critical Essay by The Junior Bookshelf [In Wintle's Wonders] Miss Streatfeild has given us another gay and lively work peopled by a centre group of vivid personalities, while her intense inter... Read more

Critical Essay by Margaret Sherwood Libby The "Shoes" series, of which ["Dancing Shoes"] is the sixth, is greatly enjoyed by girls of eleven or so, and "Dancing Sho... Read more

Critical Essay by Virginia Kirkus' Service To any adult who recalls with delight Noel Streatfeild's Parson's Nine, many years ago, this juvenile story of a clergyman's fam... Read more

Critical Essay by Margery Fisher By far the most successful theatre stories for children are those which, with children as their subjects, can show rivalries and ambitions unaffected, as yet, by the ... Read more

Critical Essay by The New York Times Book Review Not the least interesting incidents and episodes [in "Tops and Bottoms"] are those dealing with [Beaty's gradual transformation f... Read more

Critical Essay by Marcus Crouch The most skilful, sincere and honest writer of [career-books]—and she was much more besides—was Noel Streatfeild…. Ballet Shoes [1936] established... Read more

Critical Essay by The Times Literary Supplement Miss Streatfeild's account of a childhood spent in an Edwardian vicarage [A Vicarage Family] has the genuine flavour of a period piece. She writ... Read more

Critical Essay by The Times Literary Supplement Possibly no one but Miss Noel Streatfeild could have carried off the outrageous plot of The Children on the Top Floor with such an air of insouciant pl... Read more

Critical Essay by Carolyn Heilbrun Twenty-seven years ago when there was no television but only books and the loneliness of long afternoons, I read "Ballet Shoes" by Noel Streatfeild. T... Read more

Critical Essay by The Times Literary Supplement [Away from the Vicarage, the continuation of Noel Streatfeild's autobiography,] describes her attempt to break away from the restriction of her ... Read more

Critical Essay by Ruth Hill Viguers Vicky's adventures and attitudes [in On Tour] represent what many considered typical of young women of the period. The novel is the author's own stor... Read more

Critical Essay by The Junior Bookshelf Miss Streatfeild, with her good background knowledge of ballet and theatre, makes an excellent guide to the young opera-goer. Unfortunately, [Enjoying Opera] is... Read more

Critical Essay by The Times Literary Supplement The very young reader to whom Noel Streatfeild addresses her Enjoying Opera is not likely to be lured to the opera house by the potted history of opera... Read more

Critical Essay by Barbara Wersba ["The Magic Summer," American title of "The Growing Summer"] is a charming book, and also an empty one. Something has gone very wrong. ... Read more

Critical Essay by Margery Fisher Noel Streatfeild's characters are built on a simple principle, one dominant trait for each. The central figure of Caldicott Place … has a certain bounce... Read more

Critical Essay by Margaret Cheney Dawson It might seem on the face of it that a book describing faithfully and affectionately the life of a large English household, and especially the days and ways o... Read more

Critical Essay by The Times Literary Supplement Noel Streatfeild's position in the children's book world is unique. She has had all the accolades…. Her first children's bo... Read more

Critical Essay by Muriel Hutton [Thursday's Child is a] substantial book of absorbing fiction, among so many puffed up with secondary virtues. 'After Dickens' in its wealth of in... Read more

Critical Essay by Sandra Paxford [All Streatfeild's characters] have one thing in common—security. This security need not come from your own parents or relatives, but from someone who i... Read more

Critical Essay by Isabel Quigly [In 1936 came Ballet Shoes,] a children's book still loved nearly two generations later, in which [Streatfeild's] gift for immediacy and solidity was use... Read more

Critical Essay by Lois E. Savage "Beyond the Vicarage" deals with surface details of a life that should be exciting and stimulating. The book is neither. Too many words are used to reco... Read more

Critical Essay by May Hill Arbuthnot and Zena Sutherland Noel Streatfeild's Shoes books are all vocational in their themes, but they manage to avoid the heavy earnestness that generally pervad... Read more

Critical Essay by The Junior Bookshelf Times remembered are often only real to those with whom we remember them, and it is not easy to bring them to life for others. The children in [When the Sirens ... Read more

Critical Essay by The Junior Bookshelf [A Young Person's Guide to Ballet] has been written with the ordinary child in mind, the one who wants to learn to dance, with the result that some balle... Read more

Critical Essay by Mary Cadogan [In Far to Go] Noel Streatfeild skilfully conveys the stringent professionalism of the serious theatrical child: she communicates the total involvement behind the scene... Read more

Critical Essay by Denise M. Wilms The happy ending Streatfeild fashions [in When the Sirens Wailed, U.S. title of When the Siren Wailed] could be called contrived, but it's satisfying—e... Read more

Critical Essay by The Times Literary Supplement "Ballet Shoes" is a children's novel of the theatre written by somebody who knows all about stage training and little girls, apart... Read more

Critical Essay by Margery Fisher A Vicarage Family [is] the first of three fictionalised autobiographies … which give Noel Streatfeild's many readers, young as well as adult, an insight... Read more

Critical Essay by Christine Mcdonnell [As a child,] Ballet Shoes enveloped me. I entered the world of the three Fossils completely, sharing their classes, performances, and everyday routines. (p. 191... Read more