How to Tie a Shoe: & Other Big Adventures

by Skip Hill (Illustrator)

Overview

Every kid knows that tying a shoe can be a big adventure, especially in a world full of spaghetti, birds’ nests, camping trips, and seeing old friends after summer break.

How to Tie a Shoe & Other Big Adventures is the first in a series of handbooks by Penny Candy Books exploring and unraveling the complexities of some of childhood’s most essential lessons where tying a shoe becomes a metaphor for experience, and learning is an act of discovery.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780999658482
Publisher:	Penny Candy Books
Publication date:	03/10/2020
Series:	Penny Candy Handbooks
Pages:	40
Product dimensions:	6.70(w) x 8.60(h) x 0.40(d)
Lexile:	560L (what's this?)
Age Range:	3 - 5 Years

About the Author

Skip Hill is a mixed-media visual artist whose art is in private and public collections throughout the U.S., Europe, and Latin America. He is the illustrator of the picture book A Gift from Greensboro (Penny Candy Books, 2016) by poet Quraysh Ali Lansana. Skip is also one of thirteen illustrators who contributed work to 13 Ways of Looking at a Black Boy (Penny Candy Books, 2018) by Tony Medina. Skip lives in Tulsa, OK.

Editorial Reviews

★"A how-to book that isn't. This whimsical, poetic instruction manual for how to tie a shoe mentions eating spaghetti, finding birds' nests, combing hair, and staring at patterns in a rug, assuming children (probably) can figure out how to tie their own shoes...Ultimately, this book uses learning to tie a shoe as a metaphor for personal growth and experiential learning—with the beauty and challenges that accompany both. A quirky picture book that respects the intelligence of children. (Picture book. 7-11)"—Kirkus Reviews, starred review

★ "This book is perfect on so many levels–inspiring for children and gorgeous illustrations. The basic concept of this book starts with the challenge of learning to tie a shoe, which can be quite a daunting task for a young child. However, this book presents three challenges before even mentioning learning to tie a shoe–eating a humongous bowl of spaghetti, finding a hidden robin’s nest, and untangling a mass of hair from a night’s sleep. Basically, if you can do any of these things, then you can probably tie a shoe. But the book does not stop there. We see many other big adventures that children tackle every day including tracing patterns on an intricate rug, finding your way home in the dark, enjoying a Saturday filled with so many possibilities, camping under the moon and stars, and being reunited with friends after summer break. Basically, tying a shoe is really no different than all of these other wonderful adventures."—Youth Services Book Review, starred review

From the Publisher

★ 2020-01-12
A how-to book that isn't.

This whimsical, poetic instruction manual for how to tie a shoe mentions eating spaghetti, finding birds' nests, combing hair, and staring at patterns in a rug, assuming children (probably) can figure out how to tie their own shoes. Sketchy, black-and-white pen-and-ink illustrations portray children from many different backgrounds doing everyday activities like playing outside in a sprinkler, greeting buddies, and hugging good friends after summer break. Hill illustrates a black girl peeking out from inside a tent on her first camping trip and a girl hugging a boy (both are white) in a wheelchair—normalizing portrayals that still rarely appear in picture books. Stylized, hand-drawn text blurs the boundaries between words and pictures and emphasizes that words can morph into art and vice versa—or that words are art, and art evokes language. Perspectives vary in each scene: Some children look directly out at the audience; sometimes readers gaze into a scene past the child character's back; sometimes readers see only a child's hands or legs. Emotions vary too, including joy, contemplation, and sadness, offering a range of vicarious experiences for readers. Ultimately, this book uses learning to tie a shoe as a metaphor for personal growth and experiential learning—with the beauty and challenges that accompany both.

A quirky picture book that respects the intelligence of children. (Picture book. 7-11)

Kirkus Reviews