White Boots (by Noel Streatfeild)

(Amazon UK link)

Every so often I love to re-read my childhood favourites. Curling up on a sofa with children's fiction is a very enjoyable way of escaping from the world for an hour or so, and Noel Streatfeild has always been one of my favourite authors of children's books.

This book is about Harriet, who has been ill, and is ordered by her doctor to take up ice skating as a way of getting fitter and stronger. She meets and befriends Lalla, a girl from a wealthy family who has been trained from babyhood for stardom. Despite very different circumstances, they quickly make friends and soon become very close.

It's a lovely story, and I found it quite believable if a little dated in places. Harriet's brothers seem a bit artificial, and Lalla a bit too spoilt to be real, but it's a good plot in the typically gentle Streatfield style.

Recommended for fluent readers of about eight and upwards, or parents who remember this writer with nostalgia!

(Note that 'White Boots' is known as 'Skating Shoes' in the US)