Shoe Magic [Paperback]

Nikki Grimes (Author), Terry Widener (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 2000 | Age Level: 4 and up

Poems describe the different shoes children wear, including sandals, running shoes, golf shoes, and workboots.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Kindergarten-Grade 4-Using their footwear as points of departure, Grimes presents a cycle of poems about kids' everyday lives and dreams for the future. Salena's sandals conjure warm-weather pleasures ("Summer picnics/At the beach,/Dragonflies/In easy reach,/Cruising town/In sandaled feet"), while Talisha's toe shoes point to a career in ballet ("Your tattered pink/Tricks those who think/You're too frail to hold form"). "Slippers" offers a fitting benediction at the end of a child's busy day: "Rest your soles./Spread your toes./Curl, breathe deep./There now, Dreamer,/Hush-/Sleep." Widener's exuberant acrylic paintings capture the joys and hopes expressed in each of the poems. A multicultural cast of boys and girls engage in sports activities, perform onstage, and enjoy the outdoors. Their elongated arms and legs seem to be in constant motion and make an interesting contrast to the rounded shape of their faces. This collection clearly celebrates its child readers.
Kathleen Whalin, Greenwich Country Day School, CT
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Gr. 2-5, younger for reading aloud. "The shoe rack / Is stacked / With promise, / With dreams / Waiting to wake." Each poem in Grimes' latest collection uses a different type of shoe to explore a youngster's pride of accomplishment and hope for the future. A ballerina talks about her scuffed ballet shoes "tough enough . . . to strike a stubborn pose"; a young runner longing for fancy footwear realizes "It's not the shoes / that do the runnin'. / It's the feet." The poetry is uneven, mixing tightly rhymed couplets and loosened rhythm and rhyme with occasionally forced results; many poems work better out loud. But the voices convey a joyful purpose as they describe the hard work of the present and dreams about the future. The bright, foot-centric artwork, brimming with fanciful, stylized shapes, plays up the diverse speakers' exuberance and energy, though the pictures work best when paired with a poem on a white background. Then the words have more room to create their own images. Young ones struggling to express their own experiences in art and sports will find inspiration here. Gillian Engberg
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 4 and up
  
• Paperback: 30 pages
• Publisher: Scholastic (September 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0531302865
• ISBN-13: 978-0531302866
• Product Dimensions: 11.3 x 8.8 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.1 ounces
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,464,840 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Nikki Grimes conveyed the fire-in-the-belly fervor of a Harlem girl who knows she was born to write in Jazmin's Notebook, a Coretta Scott King Honor Book. In My Man Blue, a Booklist Editor's Choice and Newsweek Children's Books of the Year selection, her artful words expressed a boy's journey from skepticism to trust. And now with Bronx Masquerade she presents a rich chorus of eighteen voices, singing openly about ideas, feelings, and questions--things that open minds, invite debate, provide release. A recent Booklist review proclaims: "As always, Grimes gives young people exactly what they're looking for--real characters who show them they are not alone."An accomplished poet, novelist, journalist, and educator, Ms. Grimes was born and raised in New York City and now lives in the Los Angeles area.