Ballet Shoes by Noel Streatfeild

By Al R. Young

Ballet Shoes by Noel Streatfeild is a wonderful book about unknown possibilities. Just as children struggle to discover their own identity, and to be content with the discovery, so the characters in Ballet Shoes embark on their journey through life with precious little of self awareness and only Heaven's gifts and a loving home to help them make a place for themselves.

Gum, the endearing term for Great Uncle Matthew, is an impulsive and eccentric scientist. He travels the world collecting fossils. Through peculiar, though believable, circumstances he has also managed to collect three orphaned girls. Their life in his London house is comfortable until he fails to return one day from an expedition to no-one-knows-where. Money runs out, and Garnie, the girls' name for their guardian (Gum's niece), must let rooms. And so an English professor, a dance teacher, a mathematics professor, and a couple from Kuala Lumpure become part of the eclectic household.

From this mixture of talent, and the genuine friendship that grows up among people brought together by necessity, a heart-warming tale unfolds. This story by a masterful writer is one of our favorites.