About this episode
The episode revisits the classic children's book 'Ballet Shoes' by Noel Streatfeild with discussions on its impact and adaptations.
A timely revisit of our 2022 Christmas special which celebrates Ballet Shoes by Noel Streatfeild, a classic of children’s literature and the childhood favourite of our producer, Nicky Birch. We are joined by the writer Una McCormack and Tanya Kirk, the Lead Curator of Printed Heritage Collections (1601-1900) at the British Library, who are both lifetime Streatfeild fans. Ballet Shoes was an immediate bestseller upon publication and the runner-up for the inaugural Carnegie Medal. It has never been out of print and was the first in a series of ‘Shoes’ books by Streatfeild. It has been adapted many times both as an audiobook and for film and television and in 2019 BBC News included Ballet Shoes on its list of the 100 most influential novels of all time. We discuss why this might be the case and much more besides and even hear from Miss Streatfeild herself. And it being a Christmas episode, there is a fiendish festive quiz. We also feature two other classic books by writers best known through their writing for children. John discusses The Giant under the Snow by John Gordon, an eerie Puffin classic from 1968, while Andy revels in the darkness of John Christopher’s The Death of Grass…
People in this episode
Guests: Una McCormack, Tanya Kirk
Topics covered
- children's literature
- classic books
- Ballet Shoes
- Christmas special
- literary discussion
- book adaptations
Keywords
- Ballet Shoes
- Noel Streatfeild
- children's literature
- Christmas special
- book adaptations
- Una McCormack
- Tanya Kirk
- British Library
- classic books
Sponsors
Serious Readers
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: British Library, BBC News
Books & works: Ballet Shoes, The Giant under the Snow, The Death of Grass
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