Dancing Shoes » (1st Bullseye Books ed)

Aunt Cora is determined to turn two orphans, perky Hilary and sullen Rachel, into members of her dance troupe. But Rachel wants to keep Hilary from being one of Wintle’s Little Wonders—is it selfishness or something else? Misunderstandings and a spoiled cousin come together for a tale full of high drama. Originally published in 1957.

Mindy Hardwick - Children's Literature

Hilary and her sister, Rachel, are sent to live with their Aunt Cora. Aunt Cora owns a dancing school where the dancers' each dream of being a Little Wonder. Hilary is a talented dancer, while Rachel slogs through her lessons. However, Rachel's only concern is keeping her promise to their dying mother. Hilary must be a world famous ballerina. A rival competition with nasty Cousin Dulcie keeps readers cheering for Hilary as she competes against Cousin Dulcie in a dance competition. By book's end, all has been resolved for the three girls. Rachel's talents evolve toward the theater, while Hilary confesses she just wants to raise babies, and Cousin Dulcie makes her mother proud with contracts as a Little Wonder. Rachel, Hilary, and Dulcie are charming characters. However, readers will find the narrator's voice to be old fashioned and lacking much of the freshness of the contemporary middle grade novel. With so many outstanding middle grade stories written in the last two decades, readers would be better off finding a book written in the last twenty years than reading this one. 2003 (orig. 1957), Random House, Ages 8 to 10.