White Boots (25 page)
White Boots
NOEL STREATFEILD was born on Christmas Eve in 1885. She was the second daughter of the Bishop of Lewes, and grew up a strong-willed and difficult child (a story she tells in
A Vicarage Family
). From an early age she was determined to become an actor, and indeed attended the Academy of Dramatic Art, before performing for nine years in the West End and abroad.
It was a sudden decision to become an author, and at first she wrote only for adults. In 1936, however, she wrote
Ballet Shoes
, her most famous book, and two years later won the prestigious Carnegie Medal for
The Circus is Coming
. She then planned to write children's and adult novels alternately, but her success as a children's author made this impossible.
Although Noel had no children herself, she never failed to supply the kind of book that children wanted to read. She put this down to the fact that she could remember very vividly being a child herself, and that she had a “blotting-paper memory”!
Also by the same author
Ballet Shoes for Anna
First published in Great Britain by Collins 1951
This edition published by HarperCollins
Children's Books
2008
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Text copyright © Noel Streatfeild 1951
Postscript copyright © William Streatfeild 2001
Why You'll Love This Book © Cathy Cassidy 2008
Illustrations by Piers Sanford
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