Shoes for Me! by Sue Fliess and illustrated by Mike Laughead has been released just in time to celebrate National Poetry Month in April. The story follows a colorful, bouncy romp through a shoe store with Hippo. Fliess creates a pitch perfect rhyme to keep the tempo fast-paced and exciting. You are compelled to turn the page to discover what shoes Hippo will find next.
“Feet got bigger,
heel to toe.
Time for new shoes.
Off we go!”
You get a good sense of the flavor of the book in this trailer.
Shoes For Me! is a sweet, amusing addition to your poetry shelf that is sure to appeal to the shoe shopper in all of us. It might also be useful for children who are shy about getting new shoes and need a little preparation for the big event.
Reading the book will encourage little fashion designers and poets to get creative. Satisfy their cravings with some fun “tie-in” activities.
1. Write a poem about shoes (or an article of clothing).
Shoe Acrostic (with alliteration)
What shoes should I wear today?
Sloppy slippers?
Holey high-tops?
Old oxfords?
Elegant espadrilles?
Sassy sandals?
I know, no shoes!
(By Roberta Gibson)
A shape poem of a shoe or t-shirt might be fun. ReadWriteThink has an interactive shape poem generator to help get started.
2. Design your own shoes on paper.
Draw some shoes on a piece of paper and color them with marker, crayons or colored pencils. Cut out bits of colorful cloth and glue them on the shoes. Pieces of ribbon or lace might be nice to add, too. Consider sprinkling on glitter or sequins to add shine.
If you don’t want to draw your own shoes, here are a pair of shoes to color (link is for.pdf file)
3. Decorate some canvas shoes
Gather:
- Clean canvas shoes
- Fabric paint (older children might use acrylic)
- Ribbons or lace (optional)
- Sharpie marker (optional)
- Stencils (optional)
Draw a design onto the shoes lightly with pencil with a stencil or freehand. You might want to color areas or apply the fabric paint only to the design. Try an Google image search with keywords “canvas shoe hand paint children” to see some great ideas.
365 Days of Crafts has an example of painted shoes.
Special thanks to Jessica and Selena for sharing their thoughts about this book.
Reading level: Ages 4-8
Hardcover: 24 pages
Publisher: Marshall Cavendish Corp (March 1, 2011)
ISBN-10: 0761458255
ISBN-13: 978-0761458258
Book was provided by author for review purposes.
great ideas! I love Sue’s book, too.
Thanks for participating in Book Talk Tuesday! I love that you include activities with your review. I also appreciate the video post too- I like to do that on my blog… kids seem to like books more if they see the trailer.
Kelly
Thanks for the feedback, Kelly. Looking forward to more Book Talks.
Love your “tie-in” ideas! 🙂 We decorated some shoes a while back after reading a shoe book called Shoe-La-La!
Nice!