In these shoes ?

[venta]

Huh. While writing the previous entry, I was casting about for a link to Noel Streatfeild's The Circus Is Coming. I didn't find one straight off, so didn't bother hunting.

I did, however, notice a few books (Circus Shoes, Dancing Shoes, Movie Shoes...) which I'd never heard of. Which is odd, because I'd thought I was pretty well up on my Streatfeild. Ooh, I thought, new books to hunt.

Now I've found this page, which explains all. They're not different books at all, merely old familiar ones retitled (The Circus Is Coming, Wintle's Wonders, The Painted Garden for the examples above). It seems they've renamed a whole bunch of books to create a ... Shoes series. Why ? They aren't a series, the books don't follow on. Admittedly, some characters crop up in slightly in more than one book, but barely enough to justify calling it a series.

In some cases (like Skating Shoes, formerly White Boots) the new titles don't even make much sense. You don't ice skate in shoes.

Dammit, I don't like it. Put them back.

Comments

[white_hart]

I think that's an Americanism, and is quite an old development - having lived in America from ages 7-9 I remember being disappointed by getting books from the library there that turned out to be ones I'd read under a different title, and then again on my return to England.

Even at the age of nine I thought this was pretty damn stupid - on a par with the American library's refusal to shelve "Miss Read"'s books under 'R' but instead insisting on putting them under whatever the author's real surname was.

[venta.livejournal.com]

She wasn't called Miss Read ? Well. Fancy that. I don't think I'd even registered that.

I must re-read those. I chomped my way through a whole bunch of them aged about ten, and loved them.

[white_hart]

Mrs Dora Saint, apparently. Lovely books - Miss Clare Remembers was a particular favourite of mine at one time. Sadly it seems to be out of print at the moment, although Amazon seems to indicate that a lot of her books are being re-issued in omnibus form...

[bateleur.livejournal.com]

It's just a marketing thing. Retitling the books allows the publisher to present a more consistent brand for the author. It's an aspect of the same phenomenon that gets books by the same author all re-released in new covers with identical typography and art styles (usually slicker but less appealing than the originals).

[nisaba.livejournal.com]

Noel Streatfeild is a chick? I never knew that. I loved White Boots though, and I have a vague memory of reading Ballet Shoes and maybe a couple of others although I can't remember the titles.

I agree though, put the titles back.

[dryad-wombat.livejournal.com]

I just adore you, Liz. :) I share your Streatfield enthusiasms, and I didn't kow about Circus Shoes! I must find it.

[j4.livejournal.com]

You're me, you are! I hate the newer titles, and only found out about them at all after picking up a 1950s paperback copy of "The Circus is Coming" in Cambridge's 'Haunted Bookshop', and then realising there were loads of Noel Streatfeild books I hadn't seen & wanting to find out about them on t'internet.

I now have: The Circus is Coming; Ballet Shoes; White Boots; all of the "Gemma" series; The Grey Family; The Apple Bough. But, I mean, what are the last two of those going to be renamed as? Grey Shoes and Fiddling Shoes? For heaven's sake. No Shoes Were Harmed In The Making Of This Book.

"The Circus is Coming" is brilliant, though. Must re-read.

[venta.livejournal.com]

I'd heartily recommend the little-known The Fearless Treasure if you can track it down second hand wise. Though I don't believe I've ever read a bad Streatfeild book, that one is a particular favourite. It's about six schoolchildren being taken on an imaginary journey through the history of Britain - as such it is both informative and educational, and thus almost bound to have been out of print since the late sixties, because children are only supposed to read mindless pap...

<comment curtailed to avoid ranting>