Last month, when I read an article about how actress Emma Watson was starring in a BBC made-for-TV movie called “Ballet Shoes” about three orphan girls adopted by an absentee archeologist and so they take refuge in ballet classes, I didn’t think anything of it. But when I got to the part where Emma said she took on the role because her grandmother made her do it, plus she was playing a character whose name was Pauline, I had to pause. I thought, why does this sound so familiar?
I gave myself a kick in the head when I realized she was starring in THE Ballet Shoes. As in the classic children’s book written in the 1930s by Noel Streatfield which has been reprinted more than a dozen times and is beloved by millions of girls worldwide. How could I have forgotten the book that was such a large part of my childhood? Along with Enid Blyton’s “Circus Days Again,” this was one of my most favorite novels growing up. I must have read this book a dozen times and pretended to be one of the characters.
The book had been sent to me by my grandparents in the States while I was still living in the Philippines. I must have been around eight or nine years old. When we immigrated to America, I left the book behind. I don’t even know what happened to it. My mom was in charge of packing and disposal and she must have either thrown it away or given it away.
I went to Amazon to see if I could buy a copy of the book but saw that they only had the newly-reprinted ones with Emma Watson & Friends on the cover. I wanted the old cover, like the one I had back in the 70s. So I went to Paperbackswap.com to see if anyone listed it for trading. And lo and behold, someone did!
Ballet Shoes by Noel Streatfield
I got the book last night. It’s old, the pages are dark, the spine cracked and worn. I’m afraid if I actually open the book the pages might fall off. But how can I not read it again, especially since I’m taking ballet again, and especially since DD is dancing too?
Receiving the book felt so wonderful. It took me back to the past, back to my girlhood, back to my old house in my old hometown. My parents have passed away and so I’m left with my own disconnected memories from childhood that are mostly fleeting, random and unreliable. But this book is a solid piece of memory. It made me cry just holding it in my hands.
