The book that I have been unsuccessfully searching for is a book of short stories for girls that was published in the mid 1960’s. I recall purchasing it at a school book fair, most likely in junior high. The stories were mostly coming of age stories for teenage girls. One story told of a girl who did not fit in in high school, and she wanted new clothes that she believed would help. I remember she wanted to buy “shoes that look like ballet slippers and a string of pearls. I seem to recall that she also played the piano. Another story was about a girl who felt very unattractive and her dad said something to the effect of she was not a pretty girl but she was going to be a beautiful woman. I have searched for this collection of short stories for many years and have found many collections, but not this particular one. I would be very grateful if you might have any information about this elusive book. Thank you for any suggestions you may have.
Possibly “To Dance, To Dream” by Maxine Drury….a collection of teen stories published by Whitman (they had a “teen” imprint) in 1965. I think it had only one edition, a picture cover…google it and see if the cover art looks right!
Thank you, Susan! I googled this and sadly it is not the book I have been looking for. But I will now include Whitman Publisher in my continuing search. Happy Reading!
‘A Matter of Choice: and other stories for today’ by Norma Ruedi Ainsworth, pub 1965.
https://archive.org/details/matterofchoiceot00ains/mode/2up?q=%22Shoes+that+Look+like+ballet%22