Dancing Shoes (The Shoe Books #9) by Noel Streatfeild

★★★½

After reading this book, I can't believe how much I want to say about it!

Isabelle didn't even finish this one. I was surprised because she gave 5 stars to both Ballet Shoes and Theatre Shoes, and how different could this book be? Once I started reading Dancing Shoes, however, I could see right away why she didn't like it.

On the surface, there is much about this book that is similar to the others. The main character, Rachel, is an orphan, and she and her adopted sister, Hilary, are forced to train for the stage. Hilary is naturally talented on the stage (like Pauline and Mark), but Rachel - we think - is not (like Petrova). In time, we find that even though Rachel can't dance, she can act (like Sorrel). Along the way, Rachel's cousin Dulcie learns that "pride will come before a fall" (the same lesson learned by Pauline and Miranda).

Unlike the other two books, however, this story begins with Rachel not yet orphaned. Her father died in an accident, but her mother is there to take care of her and Hilary, who was adopted by Rachel's father when her own parents died in a natural disaster. When Rachel's mother dies, we realize that poor young Hilary has lost two sets of parents! But, though Hilary is an important character in the book, it's really Rachel who is the main character. While we witness the ways in which Rachel deals with her mother's death, Hilary doesn't appear to deal with any emotions at all and just goes along with whatever is expected of her.

So, right off the bat, this book is different because the main character is trying to deal with the loss of her mother, and she feels a lot of anger. As you can imagine, it's kind of a downer. On top of that, the girls get taken in by Rachel's Aunt Cora, who is cold and not at all a sympathetic character. Because Hilary is not a "real" relation, Aunt Cora brushes her off as a second-class family member. Due to a huge misunderstanding that Rachel is unable to clear up, Aunt Cora has a completely inaccurate picture of who Rachel is and what her relationship with Hilary is like. So, for the first part of the book, the girls really had no one on their side (unlike the Fossils, who had a house full of supporters, and the Forbes children, who had Hannah and Alice).

If you can push through the disheartening beginning, you'll be rewarded with some happy developments. Pursey and Mrs. Storm eventually get to know the real Rachel, and they become her staunchest supporters. It takes practically the entire book for me to feel in any way attached to Hilary, but in the end, I liked her quite a bit, and I wished her honesty, straightforwardness, and certainty of conviction could have come through earlier.

Besides the "don't be prideful" lesson, we also learn, through Hilary, that talent alone is not enough to succeed. One also needs hard work and ambition. Yet, as with Mark, we also see that just because one is talented, that does not mean that one must devote one's whole life to honing that particular talent (as Posy did). The important thing is to do what makes you happy.

I thought the ending was more well-done than those of the other books, as I rather liked the final conversation between Hilary and Rachel.