Pauline, Petrova and Posy Fossil are three little foundlings who laugh and work their way through the Academy of Dancing and Stage Training [in "Ballet Shoes"]….

It is greatly to Mrs. Streatfeild's credit that these talented children never become the precocious little prigs they might in clumsier hands….

The author has made real a section of life too often distorted by fiction. By pointing out some of the things which make up stage magic, she has done a real service to the theater for its young audience.

Joan MacWillie, "Books for Young People: 'Ballet Shoes'," in New York Herald Tribune Books (© I.H.T. Corporation; copyright renewed © 1965; reprinted by permission), July 4, 1937, p. 7.