It's Shoe Time!

by Bryan Collier, Bryan Collier (Illustrator), Mo Willems

Overview

This lyrical beginning-reader by multi award-winning artist Bryan Collier turns the closet on its heel and redefines what it means to be a pair. Beautifully rendered art paired with rich, rhyming dialog creates a powerful reading experience.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781484726471
Publisher:	Disney Publishing Group
Publication date:	11/07/2017
Series:	Elephant & Piggie Like Reading! Series , #4
Pages:	64
Sales rank:	452,040
Product dimensions:	6.60(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.50(d)
Age Range:	6 - 8 Years

About the Author

Bryan Collier is an American writer and illustrator known best for illustrating children’s books. He won both the Coretta Scott King Award, as illustrator, and the Ezra Jack Keats New Illustrator Award for UPTOWN, the first book he both wrote and illustrated. He has won six King Awards as illustrator and he is a four-time Caldecott honor recipient. For his lifetime contribution as a children's illustrator, Collier was a U.S. nominee for the biennial, international Hans Christian Andersen Award in 2014.

Editorial Reviews

…an exuberantly funny and surprisingly touching tale about what it means to be a pair…The silly, pun-filled text should keep young readers in stitches, but they may also ponder whether or not things need to look the same to belong together. Beneath its joyous surface, this book's sole—er, soul—runs deep.

The New York Times Book Review - Victoria Jamieson

★ 10/01/2017
PreS-Gr 1— Anthropomorphic shoes clamor to be selected by a girl preparing for a "Daddy-and-Me day!" They are dismayed that she picks a boot and a flip-flop, "You did not choose matching shoes!" The shoes follow her out the door and realize that her choice is okay when they see that her father is wearing two different shoes, too. This tale of love and individuality is peppered with puns: the high-tops say, "That was sneaky!" and the left sneaker says to its mate, "You are right. You are always Right." Elephant says, "OH NO! LEFT LEFT RIGHT!" He laughingly says, "Both the GIRL's and the DAD's shoes did not match!" And Piggie replies, "But they did go together! JUST LIKE US! We make a fun pair." Collier's distinguished art portrays a brown-skinned girl who, throughout the story, bears expressions of contemplation, joy, and finally tentativeness as she greets her father. Dad chips through the ice with his greeting, "Hi, you! Nice shoes!" His brown boot, yellow low-top combo brightens the mood of his daughter, and readers, too. The cast of footwear is expressive, sporting unique eyes—flip-flops wear sunglasses, slippers' sleepy eyes are slits, and they all have wry smiles. This is a fabulous addition to the "Elephant and Piggie" series. VERDICT This book is just right for beginning readers and won't be left on the shelf for long.— Laura Scott, Farmington Community Library, MI

School Library Journal

2017-09-18
Collier gives beginning readers a quest of mismatched shoes trying to find the "right" pair after being "left" behind. Yes, all the puns are gleefully intended. The book opens on a closet of all types of personified shoes. There are the ballet-slipper "fancy shoes," the casual flip-flops, the stocky boots, and the sporty sneakers. Readers meet their owner, a pigtailed young black girl, who makes the easy decision that just any shoe and another shoe make a pair, leaving the closet of shoes astounded at the prospect of two being mismatched and without their true partners! A postmodern twist comes as Elephant and Piggie intrude to help early readers reflect on the story's central conflict, with a bit of high jinks and witty dialogue. "What will they do?" says Elephant. "I hoof to know!" says Piggie, her own trotters in the air. On their journey to find their mates the mismatched pair of shoes—one boot and one flip-flop—run into some house slippers who manage to slip in a joke about bananas. All this is on the way to a very funny surprise twist ending that is bound to have readers stomping their feet. Using his trademark collage style, Collier renders his shoes with googly eyes and lots of personality, augmented with color-coded speech balloons (the only text).Hilarious and very well-executed—shoe-pendous, even—this is a great addition for emerging readers and pun enthusiasts alike. One might say, a perfect pairing. (Early reader. 6-8)

Kirkus Reviews