Noel Streatfeild's Shoes books are all vocational in their themes, but they manage to avoid the heavy earnestness that generally pervades such books. The two best are Ballet Shoes and Circus Shoes….

How [Ballet Shoes] manages to be as gay as it is rests entirely with Streatfeild's ability to make everyday events somehow amusing….

For the child with a special interest in ballet or any sort of theatrical life, these books are valuable. They take a serious attitude toward professions and amplify the difficulties without minimizing the satisfactions. (p. 438)

May Hill Arbuthnot and Zena Sutherland, "Modern Fiction," in their Children and Books (copyright © 1947, 1957, 1964, 1972 by Scott, Foresman and Company; reprinted by permission), fourth edition, Scott, Foresman, 1972, pp. 420-93.∗