Shoes Books

There are many books out these days and some are advertised to be what they are not. This is not the case with this book. You certainly will not be disappointed. There are pointers for everyone, children, adolescents, adults, parents, non-parents, grand-parents, whoever you are. You'll love it!

When my daughter was diagnosed with hip dysplasia, I was devasted! She had to wear what is called a Wheaton Harness for the first three months of her life. It was heartrenching to see her in this little contraption. But, after reading this book, I was able to better understand her 'condition' as not being life threatening and being 100% correctible as long as she was treated promptly. After many ultrasounds and wearing the harness as directed, she is now almost 4 and walks correctly and without any evidence of hip dysplasia. This book truely helped me through a tough time. It is very easy to read and understand. I highly recommend it to every parent who has to deal with this situation. It is an A+ book!

Oh, why o' why is all the good stuff out of print?!

Stephen Manes, author of the extremely popular "Be a Perfect Person in Just Three Days!" has written a fantastically funny and poignant tale in "It's New..."

Our hero, Arnold Schlemp, is a typical kid. Like many typical kids, he's obsessed with how he looks, and he's convinced that a pair of Helicopter Shoes (promoted by the famous basketball player, Ralph "Helicopter" Jones) will make his life complete. Doors will open for him, the heavens will part and a ray of light will shine down on him if ONLY he could get a pair of those shoes!! One small problem: Helicopter Shoes are ridiculously expensive (is this starting to sound familiar?? Any parent dealt with this same problem??)

Well, he DOES get his shoes after much fussing n' fighting and hint dropping, only to find out that they hurt his feet. In a fit of frustration, he hurls one of his poorly-made, expensive shoes at the very TV commercial selling the shoes only to have one of the characters from the commercial COME OUT OF THE TELEVISION!! What happens next is simply hysterical, fast-paced, odd and 100% pure Manes.

It's a shame that this book is out of print, because it's as relevant now in 2001 as it was when it was first published in 1989 at the beginning of the Nike shoe craze. The boy who comes out of the TV commercial comes from a world where everyone sells a product, your personal worth is based entirely on the stuff you own and everyone is ecstatically happy about the things they can get. One (of many) small problem: people in the TV commercial world never use money, their stuff is just given to them!

As a piece of social satire for young folk, "It's New..." is simply fantastic. It's message of "you are more than the sum of your possessions" is neither overly subtle nor obvious. Just because you see some grinning idiot on TV selling you WhizzoPops doesn't mean A) you need them or B) they're any good for you. This is an important lesson that I think many of our young people are missing today: commercials are brainwashing our children into becoming possession-grubbing little Perfect Consumers. If we all had to deal with some wild commercial person for a few days, I think we too would be a bit more dubious of the claims made on commercials!!

"it's New..." is a fast read, weighing in at just under 100 pages. The story is fast-paced and draws the reader in right away. While it's not illustrated like some of Manes's other works and a bit more text heavy, it's still an excellent choice for intermediate readers. Read aloud to younger or less skilled readers, it's a fine example of why one shouldn't believe everything one sees on TV!! Definitely worth the time and energy to track this one down!!

I bought this book to help my 6 year old son learn to tie his shoes. He's left-handed (I'm not) and I was having a really hard time translating what to tell him to do with each hand. The first time we sat down with the book, he was able to work through and tie the laces on the book. We're practicing nightly so we can transfer the skills over to real shoes. The book is great for little hands because
1. the laces are bigger than on a normal small child shoe (easier for little hands to hold)
2. the laces are still nice and stiff (easier to maneuver)
3. the laces are different colors (easy to tell which one needs to go where).

The illustrater, Hugh Thomson, lived from 1860 to 1920. His illustrations definitely give the book an old-world feel. It's as if you just bought the novel from a tiny little bookshop with sagging windows and the smell of ancient parchment hanging in the air.

Besides, for less than $5.00, you really can't go wrong.

This book is a must have if you are teaching young children about relationships.

Little Johnny is so excited. As soon as he is ready, the whole family is going to the fair! But where are his shoes? Before searching for his errant piece of property, Johnny kneels beside his bed and prays, "Dear God, please help me find my shoes.
At his parents' suggestions, Johnny searches everywhere. He unearths the shoes neither in the doghouse nor in the car. Other sites, too, prove fruitless until Johnny's father asks, "Why don't you look in your closet?" There are his shoes--right where they belong! Now everyone can go to the fair.
This tiny morsel of preschool teaching closes with Luke 12:7. I would recommend the story to any family wishing to show God's provision--even for life's incidentals--in a practical and interesting forum.

i read this book to my two children and they loved it. it is beautifully written and tells a great story.. i strongly recommend to any parent to buy this for there children...

My 6 year old and I listened to this story on audio. The author reads her own book and she does a magnificent job at it, the barking, the howling. It's brilliant. Anyway, Left Shoe is a dog, but not just any dog, he's a sea dog. A sea dog gets his name by the breaking of dawn the day after he's born, whatever washes up on the beach becomes your namesake. Left Shoe has been noticing strange prints on the beach, squiggles in the sand. One day Left Shoe sails into a storm and spies something floating in the water and at the same time there is something large beneath his boat. He must give himself the courage to face the dangers of the sea before he can go back home with his new found treasure.

My son thoroughly enjoyed this book, he couldn't wait to snuggle up and listen to find out what would happen next. At one point I left him at a cliff hanger and at about 11:00 p.m. that night he crept into my room tapped my arm and said if I don't know what happens to Left Shoe I won't be able to sleep. That's a good testimony. We enjoyed the book very much and are looking for other sea dog adventures by Annie O'Dowd. Thank you.

We are looking forward to many more adventures with the sea dogs. We did get the books as well, these are about 70 page books, they have simply charming illustrations, this is not a picture book. This is for children who might be ready to listen to longer stories ages 5-8 or children age 9 who can read more independently. This books are simply beautiful and a delight to read.

My 6 year old and I listened to this story on audio. The author reads her own book and she does a magnificent job at it, the barking, the howling. It's brilliant. Anyway, Left Shoe is a dog, but not just any dog, he's a sea dog. A sea dog gets his name by the breaking of dawn the day after he's born, whatever washes up on the beach becomes your namesake. Left Shoe has been noticing strange prints on the beach, squiggles in the sand. One day Left Shoe sails into a storm and spies something floating in the water and at the same time there is something large beneath his boat. He must give himself the courage to face the dangers of the sea before he can go back home with his new found treasure.

My son thoroughly enjoyed this book, he couldn't wait to snuggle up and listen to find out what would happen next. At one point I left him at a cliff hanger and at about 11:00 p.m. that night he crept into my room tapped my arm and said if I don't know what happens to Left Shoe I won't be able to sleep. That's a good testimony. We enjoyed the book very much and are looking for other sea dog adventures by Annie O'Dowd. Thank you.

We are looking forward to more sea dog adventures. This series of books comes to you from Australia. The books are about 70 pages with illustrations, this is not a picture book, this is probably more for the 9 year old reader, but they are a nice introduction for younger children to longer books (ages 5-8). The illustrations are simply charming.