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  • Ballet Shoes

  • A Story of Three Children on the Stage (A Puffin Book)
  • By: Noel Streatfeild
  • Narrated by: Janet Streatfeild
  • Length: 6 hrs and 20 mins
  • 4.4 out of 5 stars (102 ratings)
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Ballet Shoes cover art

Ballet Shoes

By: Noel Streatfeild
Narrated by: Janet Streatfeild
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Summary

Penguin presents the unabridged downloadable audiobook edition of Ballet Shoes by Noel Streatfeild, read by Janet Streatfeild.

'I wonder...if other girls had to be one of us, which of us they'd choose to be?'

Pauline longs to be an actress.

Petrova is happiest playing with cars and engines.

And if she could...Posy would dance all day!

But when their benefactor Great-Uncle Matthew disappears, the Fossil girls share a future of a dazzling life onstage, where their dreams and fears will soon come true....

Noel Streatfeild once said that Ballet Shoes was 'really a fairy story with its feet halfway on the ground' - a magical description for a magical book.

Noel was born in Sussex in 1895 and was one of three sisters. Although she was considered the plain one, she ended up leading the most glamorous and exciting life! After working in munitions factories and canteens for the armed forces when WWI broke out, Noel followed her dream of being onstage and went to RADA, where she became a professional actress. She began writing children's books in 1931, and Ballet Shoes was published in 1936. She quickly became one of the most popular authors of her day. When she visited Puffin exhibitions, there were queues right out of the building and all the way down The Mall. She was one of the first winners of the Carnegie Medal and was awarded an OBE in 1983. Noel Streatfeild lived in London. She died in 1986.

Also by Noel Streatfield, and available in A Puffin Book: Tennis Shoes; Circus Shoes; Theatre Shoes.

©1936 Noel Streatfeild (P)2017 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

"A masterpiece.... Ballet Shoes is one of my all-time favourite children's books - and you don't have to be a ballet fan to enjoy it." (Dame Jacqueline Wilson)

What listeners say about Ballet Shoes

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Great story, badly narrated

It’s a mistake to get a family member to read this lovely book, rather than a professional actor or narrator.

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11 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars

Annoying voice

I should have listened to a sample. What an annoying voice- guessing a bit of nepotism has been at play here- due to the matching surnames. I even tried speeding it up but that makes it even more annoying.

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10 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

It's a classic.

story is is good and entertaining as I remember it being when I was a child I was less impressed with the reader is styles quite abrupt and harsh

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10 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Wonderful book spoiled by the poor narration

I really hope that Puffin make another recording of 'Ballet Shoes' with a different narrator. There are so many brilliant actors/narrators whose voices would be perfect for this book but Janet Streatfeild, whom I'm sure is great at other sorts of narration, does not have the kind of voice to do this novel justice.

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

A great reading of my all-time favourite book!

I love this book, I read it countless times growing up and it still has a special place in my heart today. The narration was very good, bringing the words to life well.

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

🤣

This is the best audible book I’ve ever listened too 👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍 if you are a girl you would love it ,it is based on any age

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Too shouty

One of my favourite stories, but found the narration too abrupt and shouty. Very disappointed

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars

nostalgic and largely enjoyable.....

Why have "three_pence!!!!!! ". so irritating and repeatedly! Always pronounced "threpence"!!!! Shame. Still enjoy the story as sounded in my head in the 1940's.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

I had to ditch this one as reading was so awful

Dreadful narration. I stopped at the first chapter and will have to download a different version with a proper reader

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars

A timeless classic

Having read the book frequently as a child, and enjoyed others by the same author, it took me back to my childhood; the story line is predictable but "easy reading". Unfortunately, the narration is poor, with pauses in odd places in the sentences, quite ruining the flow of the book. Another narrator may make it more enjoyable rather than irritating.

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1 person found this helpful