Streatfeild, Noel (1895-1986), was a British writer of children’s stories with theatrical backgrounds. She gained immediate recognition with her first children’s book, Ballet Shoes (1936). She wrote several other children’s books in the “Shoes” series, including Tennis Shoes (1937), The Circus Is Coming (1938), Curtain Up (1944), Movie Shoes (1949), Family Shoes (1954), and Travelling Shoes (1962). The Circus Is Coming received the Carnegie Medal as Children’s Book of the Year. Some of her later books were adapted into popular television series. Examples are The Bell Family (1954) and Meet the Maitlands (1978). Streatfeild wrote three volumes of autobiography—A Vicarage Family (1963), Away from the Vicarage (1965), and Beyond the Vicarage (1972). She also wrote Magic and the Magician (1958), a biography of the children’s writer Edith Nesbit. In addition, Streatfeild wrote nonfiction books about opera and ballet.
Mary Noel Streatfeild was born on Dec. 24, 1895, in Frant, Sussex, England. She was the daughter of the bishop of Lewes. She was educated in Eastbourne and studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, in London. She acted for nine years before becoming a writer in 1929. Streatfeild wrote several novels under the name of Susan Scarlett. She died on Sept. 11, 1986.
