It's Shoe Time! by Bryan Collier

Today's post comes to us from Keary Bramwell. Keary is the Youth Collection Librarian at the Mount Prospect Public Library. She has served on a number of ALSC committees, including the Notable Children’s Books Committee from 2014-2016.

It’s Shoe Time! by Bryan Collier is the newest title in the Elephant and Piggie like Reading! Series created by Mo Williams. Another title in the series, We are Growing! by Laurie Keller, won the Geisel last year. Can Collier do it too?

It’s Shoe Time! tells the story of a girl picking out shoes to wear to meet her father. Will she choose fancy shoes? Flip-Flops? Boots? Sneakers? To the surprise of all the shoes, she picks two shoes that don’t match. The two left behind mismatched shoes set off after her to correct the mistake. When the shoes finally catch-up to the girl, they see that her father also has on mismatched shoes for their daddy-daughter day.

There’s a lot to love in the text with great repetition and humor. Much of the humor plays out in the text, like when the sneakers call something “sneaky” or the slippers are “always slipping in a joke.” Using a pair of shoes is a great way to get repetition in without it seeming overdone or redundant. Here the right shoe can say something then the left shoe repeats it.

Let's turn from the text to just the illustrations. The illustrations are done in darker shades than most beginner readers. You usually see bright colors with white or solid color backgrounds, but here there are black or textured backgrounds creating a more mature look to the illustrations. Without the white outline, the colored speak bubbles would be difficult to locate. While the darker illustrations don’t distract from the reader’s experience, they are worth noting.

The Geisel criteria says, “the book must also contain illustrations, which function as keys or clues to the text.” And “the illustrations must demonstrate the story being told.” Let’s focus on that second one for a moment. The shoes are all made to look cartoony and the girl is a more realistic style. It almost looks like they belong in different stories. Or are they a mismatched pair like in the story that work together?

So the question is how much of an impact do the illustrations have on the award? There must be some illustrations according to the criteria. But how to judge those illustrations? Do you only take the illustrations into account when they distract or are less effective as clues to the text? I’m sure these are questions the committee is contemplating. What do you think? Are Collier and the Geisel the perfect pair?

Oh, and did you catch the Pigeon on page 50-51? He makes an appearance in all of the Elephant & Piggie Like Reading! titles.