15th March Shoe the World Day

Each day over 500 million children, teens and adults around the world do not have a pair of shoes to wear, and despite the terrain and the climate, they have to walk barefoot everywhere. It is a struggle each day that we cannot begin to imagine. So yes we do need this Shoe the World Day. Talking to my students this week we compared their trip to school with that of Anna in Alma Fullerton's A Cloud of Dust and talked at length about how many pairs of shoes they had compared to what they needed. 


While this book Stand in My Shoes by Bob Sornson is somewhat heavy-handed and lacks the beautiful art work of the other books listed here, this is indeed what we want our students to do, we want them to empathise with people who live very different lives from theirs.

Here are some picture books that feature shoes that really make a difference to the way students may see the world. 

 • Running Shoes  by Frederick Lipp. This powerful story tells of how a very poor Cambodian child, Sophy's life changes as the result of getting a pair of shoes.


• Four Feet, Two Sandals by Karen Lynn Williams tells the story of two young girls, Lina and Feroza who are living in a refugee camp in Pakistan. When relief workers bring around some clothing they both want this pair of shoes.

• One Red Shoe by Karin Gruss is also set in the middle east in a war zone. This is based on a real life experience of a reporter in a war zone and best suited to older students.

• Rebel! by Allan Baillie. This book is out of print but worth seeking out in a library. It tells the story of a child in Burma who is extremely brave during a General's visit to his village. I have had some wonderful class discussions with this book with older students. 

30th January Lloyd Alexander (1924 - 2007)

Lloyd Alexander was an award-winning American author who was best known for writinf fantasies such as the Prydain Chronicles which began with The Book of Three. These chronicles are set in an enchanted kingdom which is something like Wales as he was researching Wales mythology for another book when he had the idea for these. He wrote novels and only two picture books which were also about Prydain, none of which are suitable for my clientele or in my library, but if you teach older children and you like fantasy or want a change from Susan Cooper or Madeleine L'Engle you will enjoy Lloyd Alexander.

Back to yesterday when it was Allan Baillie's birthday. He may well have been born on exactly the same day as Rosemary Wells, but he writes for a very different audience. Most of his books are novels for older readers, such as his Little Brother and China Coin, but he has done picture books. However even his picture books such as Dragon Quest and Drac and the Gremlin which have minimal text and appear simple are not. They are deceptive because they require higher order thinking skills to get to the theme and to fully understand all that they have to offer. I particularly like Rebel! a picture book of Allan's, which is based on an actual event. I have used it very successfully with older classes. It is set in Rangoon and looks at how a school child outwitted a dictator. This book needs to be discussed before, during and after reading and then it will have a lasting impact.

29th January Bill Peet (1915 - 2002) Rosemary Wells (1943) Allan Baillie (1943)

Bill Peet was a remarkable American illustrator who started drawing for Walt Disney and therefore was involved in many of their animated movies, but as well as this, he was the author illustrator of a large number of picture books for children. Most had animals as their characters and they behaved at various times like the animal they are drawn as, but often they are personified as well. Many of these titles are hard to find now, but those you can locate still have a lot to offer readers. My school library has Zella, Zack and Zodiac; Encore for Eleanor; Pamela Camel and Cyrus the Unsinkable Sea Serpent. Bill's books combine humour, good vocabulary and subtle lessons with comic drawings.

I know a person cannot be an icon, but for me American author illustrator Rosemary Wells is almost an icon. Children recognise her illustrations immediately. Rosemary has so much to offer children, parents and teachers through her work in the world of children's literature. Her website offers teachers and parents so much information about reading, how children learn to read and how best to share literature with children. And then on top of that she has a multitude of beautiful picture books to choose from. There is her series about Max and Ruby where sibling rabbits behave exactly as children do. Max and Ruby became so much part of our family life that my son used to come and say to me that his older sister was 'doing a Ruby' which meant she was telling him what to do. Last year one Year 2 at school got so involved in the McDuff series, which are illustrated by Susan Jeffers, that they wanted to write to Rosemary and tell her that they needed her to do more titles. The preschoolers like her Edward books because he is always doing something for the first time. And, we shouldn't forget all the Mother Goose books and the classics Noisy Nora, Timothy Goes to School and Morris's Disappearing Bag.

I am going to write about Australian author Allan Baillie tomorrow.