by Noel Streatfeild
This is one of the books recommended by Mater Amabilis™™ Level 1A (second and third grade) which we had never read. (So we're getting to it on the second year of the third child, though I wish we hadn't waited so long.) I hadn't pre-read it, but another homeschooling family read it last year and recommended it as well. The kids and I absolutely loved it. I wondered how three girls growing up learning dance and acting would interest all of them, especially the 13-year-old boy, but I think the Shakespeare helped.
Pauline, Petrova, and Posy help support a home filled with lovely boarders. I was a little sad reading about Petrova's close relationship with the only man in the home, Mr. Simpson, who lives there with his wife. He indulges Petrova's fascination with motorcars and airplanes, letting her work in his commercial garage and sometimes even taking her to fields where they go up in planes. It's so thoughtful and innocent and nothing like that would be possible today. I certainly wouldn't let my ten-year-old girl go off with a man every Sunday.
There are two more books which I probably won't read aloud, but which I expect First Daughter at least to read voraciously as soon as they come home from the library next week.
Please note, the author's name really is spelled "Streatfeild."
