Shoe-la-la!

November 8, 2010
"Party dresses, party hair.../ Need new party shoes to wear./ Emily, Ashley, Kaitlyn, Claire!/ Let's go find the perfect pair!" Four young gal pals (who are also conveniently unaccompanied minors) wreak havoc at the eponymous shoe store, a boutique run by a mustachioed man who proves no match for this enthusiastic quartet. When they still come up empty-handed (footed?) after turning the boutique upside down, the budding fashionistas turn savvy frugalistas, creating fabulous decorations for the shoes they already have. The premise inspires mostly literal, listy descriptions from Beaumont (Doggone Dogs!): "Shoes with zippers,/ Shoes with straps,/ Shoes with buckles,/ Shoes with taps"). But Pham (Bedtime for Mommy) carries the day. Flying her girly flag proudly in pages dominated by pink, peach, and purple, she gives each of her characters an entire repertoire of divaesque emotions and outfits (along the way, these "Glamour Girls" channel everyone from brides-to-be and flappers to figures like Annie Oakley, Jem, and Audrey Hepburn), and makes palpable the adrenaline rush that only a great retail experience can provide. Ages 4–8.

January 1, 2017

PreS-Gr 1-Four fashionable friends plan a fancy party, but they need new shoes to wear with their fancy dresses and hair. At the shoe store, a dapper salesman helps them try on rows and rows of shoes, "shoes with zippers, /Shoes with straps, /Shoes with buckles, /Shoes with taps." But nothing is just right. Finally, the quartet head home to redecorate their old shoes, transforming them into "perfect party shoes to wear!" The celebratory rhyming text, filled with descriptive words galore, bounces along at a rapid clip. Diverse characters are decked out in bright, colorful clothing with oodles of feathers, ruffles, and bows. This series installment focuses on developing school readiness skills through prompts and activities. Each title in the series shines a spotlight on a different skill-in this case, self-expression. Extension activities, found on the final endpapers, include a list of items to search and find in the illustrations, discussion and drawing prompts, and sentence stems. Throughout the book, short dialogic reading prompts are printed in page corners, encouraging readers to discuss the story, use their imagination, make narrative predictions, and look for objects in the illustrations. A few prompts fall flat, but overall, they are helpful to grown-ups unfamiliar with dialogic reading. VERDICT Sturdy board covers and discussion prompts make this an ideal title for beginning readers.-Amy Seto Forrester, Denver Public Library

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