Felicity's Dancing Shoes

American Girl: Short Stories #7

by Valerie Tripp, Dan Andreasen (Illustrator)

Felicity discovers the secret to graceful dancing after she borrows her sister Nan's pretty-but painful-shoes.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Childrens, Fiction, Historical, Middle Grade, Young Adult, Short Stories

39 pages, Hardcover

First published March 1, 2000

About the author

Valerie Tripp is a children's book author, best known for her work with the American Girl series.

She grew up in Mount Kisco, New York with three sisters and one brother. A member of the first co-educated class at Yale University, Tripp also has a M.Ed. from Harvard. Since 1985 she has lived in Silver Spring, Maryland. Her husband teaches history at Montgomery College.

Right out of college, Tripp started writing songs, stories, and nonfiction for The Superkids Reading Program, working with Pleasant Rowland, the founder of American Girl. For that series, Tripp wrote all the books about Felicity, Josefina, Kit, Molly, and Maryellen and many of the books about Samantha. She also wrote the "Best Friends" character stories to date, plays, mysteries, and short stories about all her characters.. Film dramatizations of the lives of Samantha, Felicity, Molly, and Kit have been based on her stories. Currently, Tripp is writing a STEM series for National Geographic and adapting Greek Myths for Starry Forest Publishing. A frequent speaker at schools and libraries, Tripp has also spoken at the Library of Congress, the Smithsonian, The New York Historical Society, and Williamsburg.

Reviews

[Megan · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was my second least favorite story out of the short story collection about Felicity Merriman. Personally, I just found this story to be too silly. Mind you, I realize it’s for children... However, I do find that even with these children’s books that there is a lot of heart for adults as well. This story was just not the case. This story was just not very good, in my opinion, and, yet again, I’m confused by Felicity’s mother? In the story after this one, which is “Felicity Takes A Dare”, Mrs. Merriman barely reprimands Felicity after she almost gets killed by a horse. In this one, Mrs. Merriman finds out what Felicity is doing with Nan’s shoes and she’s livid? The levels of concern for her daughter over certain things is just confusing.

[Shayla Salazar · Rating 2 out of 5]

Thank you little book for reminding me that I would have hated being a woman in 1774

[Katie · Rating 5 out of 5]

The great AG marathon continues.

This is a plot as old as time: [Protagonist] struggles with [activity]. Protagonist obtains [thing], which seems to make [activity] easier. [Protagonist] is convinced to help someone else learn [activity]. [Protagonist] improves dramatically at [activity], and attributes it all to [thing]! [Protagonist] loses [thing], confidence plummets... until when put to the test, it turns out they had been improving at [activity] all along because of the extra practice from teaching, not from magical properties of [thing] at all!

Here, Valerie Tripp takes that Mad Libs puzzle and puts in Felicity, dancing, and Nan's brocade shoes. And really (unlike Nan's shoes), it's a great fit for Felicity. It may not be an original premise, but it's well told and it's a charming story all the same.

Most likely set between Lesson and Surprise. Originally published in American Girl Magazine, Nov./Dec. 1994.


More Felicity babble

Meet Felicity | Felicity Learns a Lesson | Felicity’s Surprise | Happy Birthday, Felicity | Felicity Saves the Day | Changes for Felicity

Very Funny, Elizabeth

Felicity’s New Sister | Felicity’s Dancing Shoes | Felicity Takes a Dare | Felicity Discovers a Secret | Felicity’s Short Story Collection

Peril at King’s Creek | Traitor in Williamsburg | Lady Margaret’s Ghost

[Courtney · Rating 4 out of 5]

For anyone wondering where this short story falls in terms of the timeline in Felicity's core books: it after Felicity Learns a Lesson and before Felicity's Surprise.

I'm continuing my revisit of Felicity's stories, and reading these short stories for the first time along the way. I would say that this short story is really a 3.5 for me, but I rounded up to 4 because ultimately I think these stories are so charming.

In this story, Felicity is struggling with her dance lessons at Miss Manderley's. It does not help that antagonistic Annabelle makes fun of Felicity's sturdy leather shoes, saying that they add to her clumsiness as a dancer. To remedy this, Felicity borrows a pair of fine brocade slippers from her little sister Nan in exchange for teaching Nan her new dance moves every day. Nan's delicate shoes seem to do the trick and Felicity's dancing improves. Inexplicably, Felicity decides that she has to hide whichever pair of shoes she is not currently wearing in a toolbox in Miss Manderley's garden shed. One day, Miss Manderley's gardener takes the toolbox with the shoes hidden inside away and Felicity must chase after him through the town to get her shoes back. Nan's slippers are too small for Felicity to run in, so she has to run in her stockings. Felicity's muddy stockings reveal the secret to her mother, who forbids Felicity from taking Nan's shoes back to Miss Manderley's. However, Felicity realizes that it wasn't the shoes that were improving her dancing, but her daily after class practice with Nan.

While I liked this story, the whole conflict just didn't make sense to me. Why did Felicity even need to hide the shoes in Miss Manderley's garden shed? It's perfectly reasonable to wear her sturdy shoes on the walk over in the dirt streets and then change into the fancy slippers once she got to class, so why did she have to keep that a secret by changing shoes in the shed? Also, why hide her other shoes in Miss Manderley's garden shed of all places?

I don't think this short story was as strong as the other one I've read so far, Felicity Takes a Dare. That said, I still enjoyed this one. I like the positive and generally supportive relationship Nan and Felicity have despite the fact that their personalities are opposite; I feel like it would have been easier to make them cliché bickering "tomboy vs girly-girl" sisters. Although I find Nan's personality a little bit too reasonable and mature to believably belong to a 6 year old. As usual, I also really enjoyed the historical section in the back, and learned some new information about dancing and it's social importance in Colonial America.

[ConnieLettow · Rating 5 out of 5]

Practice Makes Perfect! Felicity takes dance lessons at Miss Manderly's. We learn that dancing was such an important thing in Felicity's time, that girls could practice for up to 9 hours a week, anad when they grew up, could go to parties that danced for hours every night, and lasted up to a week long. Felicity thinks Nan's beautiful brocade shoes make her a better dancer, but learns that it was really practice that did the trick all along. Learn Minuet Steps in the back of the book.

[Rubi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Practice pratice practice. Practice makes perfect is the lesson Felicity learns in this short story. She wasn't very good at dancing and is upset when Annabelle makes fun of her shoes (among other things).
So, she borrows some dancing shoes and is sure they make her dance better. So even though they hurt her feet, she keeps it up until she is discovered. Only to realize she was just as good without them!
Cute story and nice lesson 😊

[Karol · Rating 5 out of 5]

Felicity learns from a painful lesson. The history of dance and the instruction on Colonial square dancing in the back of the book are nice extras.

[Sarah Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

After being called clumsy during dancing lessons, Felicity makes a bargain with her little sister Nan. Nan will let Felicity wear her brocade shoes to dance lessons, in exchange for teaching her the dances when Felicity gets home from lessons. While the shoes are far too tight, they seem to work! Felicity is improving. But then a mishap with the shoes leads to her having to go back to wearing her everyday shoes and Felicity fears her days of more graceful dancing are at an end.

First, I was impressed that Felicity was able to squeeze her feet into her little sister's shoes. And impressed at her ingenuity to figure out a way to not be made fun of for her shoes anymore, and her sister's means of getting the dance lessons she desperately wants. It was a good secret bargain between sisters! This was much tamer than many of Felicity's exploits in other books. She doesn't risk her life or safety or even sneak out of the house after dark once! Really the only thing at risk are her sister's mint condition brocade shoes.

I also loved the lesson Felicity learns in the end - the key to getting better at something in life is indeed the practice and not the accessories. This is a wonderful life lesson for young readers presented in a realistic and relatable way. As always, I really appreciate the "peak into the past" section at the end of the story, that delves into the real-life history that inspired the Valerie Tripp's fiction. This one inspired some good conversation about how different the opportunities and schooling was for young girls during the time period compared to today. My daughters were shocked that girls didn't really go to school at the time and weren't expected to have careers outside of the home. This is such a great way to start introducing history in a fun format.

This is my last Felicity short story, having read all six regular length Felicity books and the other short stories. I have so enjoyed rereading them with my two young daughters. I will miss Felicity and all the characters in this series!

[Miranda Reads · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Felicity struggled to follow Miss Manderly's directions, but her feet would not cooperate. They wandered off in wrong directions and tangled themselves up."

Felicity's dancing lessons are...not going well. It's hard for her to remember the steps, and even when she does, her great clonking shoes weigh down her feet and make her even worse.

"Ouch! My toe! Oh, my toe!" screeched Annabelle. "You've stepped on my toe, you clumsy girl!"

Felicity just knows that if she had light, dainty shoes that dancing would be so much earlier...but she ruined her pair ages ago.

BUT her younger sister, Nan, has taken good care of her shoes. AND Nan desperately wants dancing lessons. Perhaps Felicity can broker a deal here...

Soooo...I see what they were doing but I felt like they could've done more.

This is one of those classic stories where the main character gets "tricked" into practicing a hard skill. Lo and behold, practice makes perfect and she's able to do the difficult task much easier.

At the end of the day...it's not a bad message, it's just been done before - in many stories, across many years. Once I picked up on the trope, it was moreso just waiting for the characters to catch on.

A Peek into the Past

Like all of the main and mini Felicity Merriman books, this one has a mini historical section at the back called a Peek into the Past.

In this Peek into the Past, we learn about the Educational system in 1774 - specifically, what was and wasn't taught to gentlewoman in Felicity's age. There were practical skills, like household management, cooking, preservation, medicine, and gardening. But also there were more showy skills, like music, reading, sewing, and dancing.

And finally, there's an activity at the back that teaches us how to do a simple, but lively partner dance from the 1700s.

[Jacqueline M. · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a kid this was my FAVORITE Felicity story even though it is separate from the core 6 books (while this was published in 2000, like most of the other short stories, was originally published in the mid nineties in the AG magazine). I just loved the premise and the outcome. As an adult I am a bit confused by some aspects. I do find it hard to believe that Felicity's parents would have sent her to Miss Manderly's in her clumsy shoes even if it was her fault she ruined her slippers. They are wealthy and surely wouldn't want to reflect poorly around others in society. I also don't understand why we couldn't just change shoes when we get to Miss Manderly's house and why we needed to hide our shoes in the shed of all places. Also why is Felicity forever hiding important things in garden sheds? Anyway I still really love this and bonus points for the "how to dance the minuet" in the back complete with 90s jumpers in sketch form.

[Kathryn · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story itself didn't really resonate for me the way some of the other AG short stories have done. But, I did enjoy the history lesson at the back. I knew dancing and balls were important to the British in this era (and for some time to come; I am a Jane Austen fan, after all ;-> ) but I didn't realize that it was only in the Southern colonies that dancing was lauded. In the Northern colonies, it was widely regarded as a "wicked" pastime (how sad!) Nor did realize that girls like Felicity, from families of a higher class, often spent nine hours a week practicing dances and learning the dance sequences. (Since they had to spend so much of their other times in more sedentary pursuits like embroidery, it actually relieved me to learn they got good exercise with the dance lessons, though it sounds as if some of the dance masters were too strict, unfortunately.)

[Joey Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was cute, Felicity struggles to learn the dances and as Annabelle picks on her again due to her clumsy shoes so she starts hurting herself by using Nan’s small shoes which was honestly funny.

With Nan being so excited to learn the dances of a gentlewoman it was so sweet that she and Felicity got some time alone together and it was really helping Felicity learn what she was doing by teaching her sister.

I really enjoyed this story it was so cute and so funny too a 10 year old wearing a 6 years old shoes that would really be painful. But it was a cute idea and it made a great little story.

[Denise Kettering · Rating 4 out of 5]

Practice is the key to this short story about Felicity dealing with the challenges of learning proper dance steps. When Annabelle makes fun of her shoes, she borrows Nan's too tight shoes and finds herself dancing better, but when a misunderstanding occurs, Felicity has to deal with the consequences of her actions. She learns in the end that it was the practice, not the shoes, that has made her dancing improve.

[carlene ☼ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just like Felicity’s New Sister, this is such a sentimental book. I found this with that book yesterday at a library book sale, and I had to read it right away. Again, I don’t feel like I can give this five stars, since I don’t love it as much anymore, but it’s still such a sweet and happy story.

[Gwen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I like learning about dancing during Colonial Times and also the lesson that it's practice that makes the dancer, however, having shoes that fit is also important; you can't dance well if you have injured feet!

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading this Felicity short story with my daughter. Felicity borrows her younger sister Nan's brocade shoes for her dancing lessons even though they are much too small, and in exchange she must give Nan dancing lessons.

[Pamela · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's a cute little short story with a little life lesson that a child can learn from the 1770s. The lesson for this story is that practice makes perfect.

[Alex · Rating 3 out of 5]

Adorable as always.

[Bulk Reviews · Rating 4 out of 5]

This story has such a cute ending. To summarize, Felicity is embarrassed by her shoes because they are so large and clunky. She believes they hinder her during her dancing lessons at Miss Manderley's, and her pride is hurt when Annabelle makes fun of her. So she starts to borrow Nan's dainty dancing shoes (I love Nan's line that's like, "Do you mean like the ones you had that you ruined?") but only in exchange for teaching her sister the dance steps when she gets home. And her dancing does in fact improve.

Felicity's mother puts a stop to everything when Felicity almost loses the shoes, but Felicity is surprised to find out she didn't need them after all. Her dancing improved not because of her shoes, but because she got in the extra practice by teaching the steps to Nan. Not only is this an adorable story about sisters, it is also about self-reliance, and that the best way to learn something is to teach it to someone else.

[James Crawford · Rating 4 out of 5]

This small "short stories" book deals with Felicity trying to learn how to dance properly (another thing young girls were expected to learn at the time), and problems she has since the shoes she is wearing seem to be causing her to be somewhat clumsy.

She manages to borrow a pair of shoes which seem to help her, but things don't go just as planned. She learns, though, that the extra practice she has been doing at home has been helping her dancing ability, and that dancing ability lies within her, not within her shoes.

The book also has a historical section and other material.

[Theresa F. · Rating 3 out of 5]

I felt that this story had a good moral, and while the build-up to the reveal was heavy-handed in places, in my opinion it didn't clobber the reader over the head with its 'lesson'. However, I'm also not in the target age group for this book, so my opinions might be skewed by my age.
Did I like it? Overall, yes.
Would I reread it? While I did enjoy this short story, I don't think I will feel a need to read it again, as it was obviously worded and structured for a younger audience.
Would I recommend it? I felt that it was worth reading once.

[Marya · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really like these short stories. They are about as short as a chapter in a normal American Girl main book, which means we can get through it in one night for a bedtime story. Also, since it is a series book, it follows with the same characters, setting, and conventions of the earlier books. This makes it easy for the little one to focus on the plot, the only aspect that has changed, and to wind everything down right before sleeping.

[Miri · Rating 3 out of 5]

Felicity is taking dancing lessons from Miss Manderly, with Elizabeth and Anabelle, but Felicity is a terrible dancer and she thinks her clunky shoes are the reason, so Felicity makes a deal with Nan to use her special shoes in return for teaching Nan all of the dances she learns.

[Tchipakkan · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was not as good as the basic 6 books and the American girl mystery series, it may be intended for younger readers. IT was also a bit preachy. The characters are still wonderful and the story amusing.

[Shawna · Rating 4 out of 5]

This story had a little bit of humor in it.

[A Mae · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was OK,but it was not my fav.

[Katt Hansen · Rating 4 out of 5]

A cute story about what makes a dancer. :) I liked how this came out.

[Melaniew · Rating 5 out of 5]

awesome book!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

[Kelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very short and cute.

[Bailey Marissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Once again: SMH