The first Noel

Noel Streatfeild was a wonderful children's writer, most famous for her Shoes series - especially Ballet Shoes.

Remember the movie You've Got Mail, when Meg Ryan, playing book shop owner Kathleen, answers a customer's query about Streatfeild? She spells out her surname, which was the first time I was conscious that the "-field" part was actually "-feild".
 
 Here are 7 fascinating facts about this author:

- her first name was actually Mary; Noel was her second name
- she was expelled from her first school
- she made munitions during the First World War
- Ballet Shoes was an instant best-seller when it was published in 1936
- it's probably the first book that depicts children as self-reliant
- her editor suggested Ruth Gervis as the illustrator, not knowing that Ruth was Noel's sister
- she also wrote romance novels under the name Susan Scarlett

Although her books are less popular than they were, they still do well.

Much of the above was gleaned here and here, where you can find out more about Noel Streatfeild.