Noel Streatfeild

Author profile

born

December 24, 1895 in Sussex, The United Kingdom

died

September 10, 1986

gender

female

website

http://www.whitegauntlet.com.au/noelstreatfeild/

genre

Children's Books, Literature & Fiction

About this author

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Mary Noel Streatfeild, known as Noel Streatfeild, was an author, most famous for her children's books including Ballet Shoes. Several of her novels have been adapted for film or television.

Noel Streatfeild was born on Christmas Eve, 1895, the daughter of William Champion Streatfeild and Janet Venn. Noel was the second of six children to be born to the couple who had married two years earlier. Ruth was the elder while after Noel came Barbara, William ('Bill'), Joyce (who died of TB prior to her second birthday) and Richenda.

During the Great War Noel worked firstly as a volunteer in a soldier's hospital kitchen near Eastbourne Vicarage and later produced a play entitled 'Vingt-et-Un', a two-act fairy tale by Lucy and Virginia Wintle, in aid o...more Mary Noel Streatfeild, known as Noel Streatfeild, was an author, most famous for her children's books including Ballet Shoes. Several of her novels have been adapted for film or television.

Noel Streatfeild was born on Christmas Eve, 1895, the daughter of William Champion Streatfeild and Janet Venn. Noel was the second of six children to be born to the couple who had married two years earlier. Ruth was the elder while after Noel came Barbara, William ('Bill'), Joyce (who died of TB prior to her second birthday) and Richenda.

During the Great War Noel worked firstly as a volunteer in a soldier's hospital kitchen near Eastbourne Vicarage and later produced a play entitled 'Vingt-et-Un', a two-act fairy tale by Lucy and Virginia Wintle, in aid of the Red Cross. Apparently she also appeared and sang in this play. This encouraged her to produce and once again appear in a further play, 'When Daydreams End'. This was described in the programme as 'A Phantasy in Three Acts by Noel Streatfeild'. When things took a turn for the worse on the Front in 1916 she moved to London and obtained a job making munitions in Woolwich Arsenal. It wasn't uncommon for her to work 12-hour shifts.

Following war's end she determined to be an actress so in January, 1919, enrolled at the Academy of Dramatic Art (later Royal Academy) in London. It wasn't too long before she began to appear on the stage but seems to have had a bad experience on her first overseas tour to South Africa in 1926. Noel then turned to writing, doing a correspondence course before leaving for a further overseas tour in October, 1928, this time to Australia. On17th February, 1929, while she was still in Australia, Noel's father died of a sudden heart attack.

Noel's first novel, 'The Wicharts', was published in 1931 and she began carrying out social work as member of Deptford Voluntary Child Care. The members of this organisation attended school, medical and dental inspections. This was followed up by visits to the children's homes in order to convince the parents to have the prescribed treatments carried out. Soon she took on public speaking, asking listeners to show their support for the various London child care committees.

It was in 1936 that Mabel Carey, recently appointed children's editor for the publisher, Dent, asked Noel to pen a children's book about the theatre. By this time Noel was busy on many projects. These included eight plays for children, collectively called 'The Children's Matinee' and another play, 'Wisdom Teeth', which was going into rehearsal at the Everyman Theatre. The latter was of a more serious nature, designed to shock with its two themes of divorce and drugs. Ballet began to interest Noel, especially when she was in the audience at Eastbourne Pier of 'Ninette de Valois - 1913' put on by Lila Field's Little Wonders.

According to Angela Bull, 'Ballet Shoes' was a reworked version of 'The Whicharts'. Elder sister Ruth Gervis illustrated the book which was published on the 28th September, 1936. At the time, the plot and general 'attitude' of the book was highly original, and destined to provide an outline for countless other ballet books down the years until this day. The first known book to be set at a stage school, the first ballet story to be set in London, the first to feature upper middle class society, the first to show the limits of amateurism and possibly the first to show children as self-reliant, able to survive without running to grownups when things went wrong.

In 1939 Noel received the Carnegie gold medal for 'The Circus is Coming' for 'a distinguished contribution to children's literature' from the Library Association.

The Second World War once more brought out Noel's selfless attitude. She took on an air raid warden position with Westminster City Council Civil Defence and often made visits to London's southern areas in order to help organise Civil Defence and the evacuation of families away from the city. She was also i(less)

combine editions
Books by Noel Streatfeild

Average rating: 3.97 · 13627 ratings · 956 reviews · 60 distinct works

	Ballet Shoes 403 avg rating — 7744 ratings — published 1936 — 41 editions	My rating:
	Theater Shoes by Noel Streatfeild, Diane Goode (Goodreads Author) (Illustrator) 397 avg rating — 1195 ratings — published 1944 — 12 editions	My rating:
	Dancing Shoes 400 avg rating — 1272 ratings — published 1957 — 11 editions	My rating:
	Skating Shoes 403 avg rating — 717 ratings — published 1951 — 9 editions	My rating:
	Movie Shoes by Noel Streatfeild, Noel Steatfield 390 avg rating — 368 ratings — published 1949 — 5 editions	My rating:
	Thursday's Child 397 avg rating — 294 ratings — published 1970 — 6 editions	My rating:
	Circus Shoes 371 avg rating — 249 ratings — published 1938 — 7 editions	My rating:
	Tennis Shoes 372 avg rating — 170 ratings — published 1937 — 4 editions	My rating:
	Traveling Shoes 398 avg rating — 184 ratings — published 1984 — 5 editions	My rating:
	Family Shoes 374 avg rating — 146 ratings — published 1954 — 3 editions	My rating:

More books by Noel Streatfeild…

Series by Noel Streatfeild

Margaret Thursday (2 books)
by Noel Streatfeild

392 avg rating — 362 ratings

Gemma (4 books)
by Noel Streatfeild

354 avg rating — 313 ratings

Quotes by Noel Streatfeild

“It might have all the same; you never can tell what's magic.”
― Noel Streatfeild, Ballet Shoes

tags: magic

13 people liked it

“During the last six months the little girl Harriet, without her noticing it, had disappeared and a new Harriet had taken her place. A Harriet who looked much the same outside, but was more of a person inside.”
― Noel Streatfeild, Skating Shoes

tags: change , inspirational , people

3 people liked it

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