Book Review Module 1

Fox,Mem. Shoes from Grandpa. New York: Orchard Books, 1990. Illustrated by Patricia Mullins. ISBN 0-531-05848-4

Summary
When Grandpa noticed how much Jessie had grown, he offers to buy her a new pair of shoes and he gets her a nice pair of red boots. Written in the style of the House that Jack Built, other family members begin to buy Jessie things to go with her shoes resulting in a cumulative rhyme. The illustrations by Patricia Mullins are very creative collages. This is a charming story.

Analysis
Even though Mem Fox is from Australia and this book qualifies as an international book, there is nothing particularly Australian about it. There are almost no differences in the English used in the book and the English used in the United States. The story begins with a family having a barbecue, and it is not called a barbie. The only language difference I noticed is calling a store a shop. "I'll buy you some socks from the local shops, to go with the shoes from Grandpa." In the United States that is not a common thing to say. Other than that the characters in the book could be from Great Britain, Australia, New Zealand or the United States. All of the characters are Anglos and the clothes they wear are not ethnic or noticeably from any particular country.

Review Excerpts
"Brightly colored torn-paper collages fill appealing double-page illustrations portraying Jessie increasingly laden down with everyone else's idea of the perfect addition to her outfit. Finally, shedding all her mismatched apparel, she tactfully speaks her mind: "You're all so kind that I hate to be mean, but please, would one of you buy me some jeans?"

Uses
This book could be used in several ways. Kids could use this book as a guide to write their own cumulative rhymes.
It could easily be turned into a readers' theater.
Also the illustrations could be used as example for making torn paper collages.

Works Cited
Ayres, Carey. 1990. "Shoes from Grandpa (Book)." School Library Journal 36, no. 4: 89. Academic Search Complete, EBSCOhost (accessed June 18, 2009).