Nikki Grimes
Nikki Grimes
Nikki Grimes
Shoe Magic

writ­ten by Nik­ki Grimes
illus­trat­ed by Ter­ry Widen­er
Orchard Books/Scholastic, 2000

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Shoe Magic

A salute to shoes and the ambi­tions of the heart shows tap shoes per­form­ing to Broad­way tunes, cleats tear­ing up a path to the goal line, and soft white soles eas­ing the sick in hospitals.

Awards and Recognition

  • Bank Street Col­lege Best Book of the Year
  • Nest Lit­er­ary Classic

Resources

Reviews

These poems pro­file chil­dren try­ing on shoes for the future. Tap shoes for Marc; cleats for Clarice; hik­ing boots; toe shoes; a nurse’s shoes like Dad’s for Kyle; stur­dy work boots, and more, always mak­ing cer­tain to avoid gen­der stereo­types. Grimes weaves sub­tle mes­sages of pow­er through her bright, breezy language—‘Still, his boots/Hold him steady/Once he’s ready/To fix/The world.’ Or, in the case of African-Amer­i­can ‘Tal­isha’s Toe Shoes’, “Some­day I’ll dance/The Nutcracker/ (My dream too long deferred)./ My arabesque/Will be so fine/They’ll rede­fine the word.” The sun­ny tone is matched in Widen­er’s acrylics with round-head­ed, rub­ber-limbed chil­dren of all eth­nic­i­ties wear­ing over­sized foot­gear, exu­ber­ant­ly danc­ing, ski­ing, skat­ing, swimming…playing. Dream­ers and doers both will find inspi­ra­tion here. (Kirkus Reviews)

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…while Tal­isha’s toe shoes point to a career in ballet…‘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 (School Library Jour­nal)

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