Skating Shoes

by Noel Streatfeild

Book Overview

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!

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 044047731X
• ISBN13: 9780440477310
• Release Date: November 1982
• Publisher: Yearling Books
• Length: 224 Pages
• Weight: 0.39 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.2" x 7.7"
• Age Range: 8 to 12 years
• Grade Range: Grades 3 to 7

Customer Reviews

Book

Exellent produt and seller. I would purchase product from this seller again and again.

Not a Shoe Fan

I suggest picking up a copy of SKATING SHOES for the ruff-and-tumble young lady of your household. This is the only one of the "Shoe" books that held my attention past the end of the first page -- the other's were just so-o girly! As a kid I put them in the same category as the Little House on the Prairie set (GAG). However, this one caught my attention with the description of Harriet's appearance and her family interaction and it kept me to the end with the antics of competition.

See also Skating Shoes

This book was also published under the title, Skating Shoes. I enjoyed it immensely as a child, and my daughter enjoyed having it read to her.

Maybe the best of the Shoes

After Ballet Shoes, of course, this is my favorite of the Shoes books. And with the recent interest in skating because of Sarah Hughes, I think this one should be reprinted. What I like about this one is that the heroine is a gawky "daddy long-legs" girl who turns out to be a real skating star after being in her friend's shadow. And her friend, Lalla, who is the shining star in the early part of the book suffers from the perils of early success and of a "stage mother" or "skating mom" in a very realistic way. Despite her being a bit of a spoiled girl, we really come to like her. Probably the most balanced and realistic characterizations of the Shoe books. It's formulaic, of course, but we Shoe fans love the formula.

Remember when Meg Ryan walked into Tom Hanks' bookstore?

And the customer asked about the "Shoes" books, and a monologue about the wonders of Noel Streatfeild's "Shoes" books ensued, touching on Dancing Shoes, Ballet Shoes, and Skating Shoes, which is absolutely wonderful? That scene made me break down crying, because I had never heard anyone other than myself talk about these terrific books, and the fact that it is tragic that they are mostly out of print and hard to find. This book is a wonderful story of working hard for a goal, and accomplishing it, or at least getting on the road to achieving a reasonable, yet magical, goal. If you want a great book for your favorite elementary school girl, buy this one - then buy the other "Shoes" books (and get a copy of Tennis Shoes for your favorite boy too!)