Skating Shoes

By Noel Streatfeild

A skating champion. An unlikely friendship. A fateful pair of white boots. Read the classic that has captivated generations! 

It's a stroke of great luck when Harriet Johnson’s doctor prescribes skating after an illness that has left her feeling frail and listless. For on her very first day at the rink, Harriet meets orphaned Lalla Moore, who is being brought up by her wealthy aunt Claudia to be a skating champion. Although they have little in common, the girls form a fast friendship. Harriet is energized by talented, funny Lalla, and Lalla in turn blossoms under the affection of openhearted Harriet. The girls skate together more and more. But just as Lalla’s interest in skating starts to fade, Harriet’s natural talent begins to emerge. Suddenly Lalla and Harriet seem headed in two very different directions. Can their friendship survive?

This beloved children's classic is the perfect gift for girls who dream of spending days at the ice rink and becoming a figure skating champion. Adult readers may remember the "Shoes" books from You've Got Mail!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
• Release date: Nov 6, 2018
• ISBN: 9780525578666

Noel Streatfeild

Noel Streatfeild, the plain middle child between two talented and pretty sisters, trained at RADA and acted for nine years before writing Ballet Shoes, an instant bestseller, in 1936. As vicarage daughter, factory girl, actress, model, social worker, writer, and crusader for good books, Noel touched many aspects of life. Her experiences enriched her stories, which were so popular that, by her eightieth birthday, she had earned herself the title of ‘a national monument’. She died in 1986.

Reviews for Skating Shoes

[phoebesmum · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Lovely and cosy and infinitely rereadable.

[nobby1_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Harriet, recovering from an illness, is advised by her doctor to learn to skate. At the rink, she meets Lalla, who is determined to become a skating star, and the two strike up an unlikely friendship. A really absorbing read.

[conuly · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

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!

[moonshine19 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

One of my favorite books of Streatfeild's, Skating Shoes takes you into a world you won't want to leave. The English skating and testing system is explained very well-- all her books are like this, for example the stage license system in Ballet Shoes. The focus equally rests with Harriet and Lalla, two girls from very different backgrounds that are brought together by skating. Harriet, whose doctor suggests skating as a way to build her legs back up after an illness, is enchanted by Lalla, who seems a perfect skater. They become friends, and while Harriet and her brothers envy Lalla's talent and money, Lalla, an orphan who lives with her kind but impersonal aunt, envies Harriet's close-knit family. Harriet and Lalla both struggle with what they want, but the end of the book is satisfactory, though you'll wish it went on. This book is great for all ages, whether as a read-aloud for a six to eight year old or an adult. I loved this book, and I know that you will.