25th July International Red Shoe Day

International Red Shoe Day, celebrated every July 25, was founded in memory of Australian Lyme disease patient Theda Myint, who passed away from the disease in 2013. Theda Myint died of Lyme disease on July 25, 2013, thus the date. Myint’s disease grew gradually after she was bitten by ticks in Australia, and was exacerbated by a bout of flu she caught while traveling in Europe in 2000.

It was created to raise awareness of the so-called invisible illnesses — physical, mental and neurological conditions that are not immediately apparent to others but can hurt just as much as illnesses with easily visible symptoms. Myint was known for her love of red shoes, which is why the red shoe became the symbol of the day.

While many of my students would not know what Lyme disease is, there are many that seem to be besotted with shoes and having the same shoes as their friends. This worries me, but I guess there is so much shoe choice these days and I am jealous because as a child I had only two pairs of shoes, school shoes and sneakers. A rare school friend had a pair of 'good' shoes too for parties and Sunday School.

There are so many children's books that feature shoes. See here. To celebrate this day though I thought I would just mention those that feature 'red' shoes.

Of course there is Hans Christian Anderson's story The Red Shoes. The library has two picture book versions, but it is not a 'simple' story and is in fact, I think very strange and not really for young children. As is the case in some of Anderson's tales, Karen the protagonist dies at the end of the story. She is 'punished' for her vanity and 'lust' for the finer things. The version with illustrations by Sun Yung Yoo that is in the library has beautiful and haunting artwork.

Simpler and more 'cosy' is the series of books about the hare Ruby, in Ruby Red Shoes. The library has all of these books and a very popular toy to accompany them.

Next look for this, Red Shoes where Malika is delighted when Nana surprises her with a beautiful new pair of red shoes! 

We don't have this one, Lily May and the Ruby Shoes Blues as here in Australia children wear a school uniform and no one is likely to come to school wearing red high heels, but it has the making of lots of good discussion.

And if you are thinking 'outside the box' try this lovely story, The Mermaid and her Shoe is  about one of King Neptune's daughters, Minnow and her quest for answers about a red shoe that she finds.

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. 

14th January Shoe Buying Day

The PBS Calendar lists activities for parents to share with their children each day and today they are buying shoes. In Australia it is an activity that is on many parent-to-do lists as the new school year starts in two weeks. Remember that scene when Alexander is made to buy 'plain old white ones' when shopping for sneakers with his mother and brothers in Alexander's Terrible Horrible No-Good Very Bad Day.

I went searching for a Shoe Day as after all there does seem to be a day for everything else even 'socks', but besides Two Different Coloured Shoes Day on 3rd May and Sneakers Day on 9th October there wasn't a specific Shoe Day. So I'm instigating one, by saying there is a multitude of books, rhymes and songs which to explore when celebrating 'shoes'. And I have decided to start the term with my preschool classes doing that. I will have four or five lessons with each group so I think we will probably look at some aspect of shoes for each session. Usually we have a book, a rhyme or song and some activity.

They will all have new shoes and we will have plenty to look at, compare and discuss. We will see who has shoelaces, who has buckles and who has velcro. We will start with the book Whose Shoes? and find out how many different shoes there are and how many words we have for types of shoes. This video and song will help add to the list of shoes too.

We will have fun with Pete the Cat. He has two books which feature shoes... Pete the Cat: Rocking in my School Shoes and Pete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes . The children love to sing along with these which we can do courtesy of YouTube.

In each lesson with preschoolers I also like to introduce or revisit a nursery rhyme as they enjoy reciting them and don't know them like they used to. There are four that I can think of that feature shoes.
• 1 2 Buckle My Shoe
• There Was an Old Lady
• Cobbler Cobbler
• Diddle Diddle Dumpling My Son John

There are also a large number of songs complete with actions here.

While 'rhyme' is centre-most with preschoolers it will be fun to share books that are written in rhyme like
• What Can You Do With a Shoe?  by Beatrice Schenk de Regniers and Maurice Sendak. What a great question to discuss before even reading the book. Then look at the rhyme...
What can you do with a shoe? You can put it on your ear or wear it on your head or butter it like bread or use apple jam instead!
• Grandpa's Slippers by Joy Watson. This is part of a series of books about Grandpa and his clothing. They are written in rhyme and children and grandparents both laugh when these are read aloud.
• Shoes From Grandpa by Mem Fox and Patricia Mullins. This is a cumulative rhyme where family members describe the clothes they plan to give Jessie to go with the shoes from Grandpa.

Next dogs and shoes. Discuss what dogs do with shoes and then introduce these three books:
• One Two That's My Shoe! by Alison Murray
• Shoe Dog by Megan McDonald and Katherine Tillotson
• A Dog Wearing Shoes  by Sangmi Ko.
Each of these is humorous and likely to enthuse the children to talk.

And of course there's always fairytales. Here are five which feature shoes:
• Cinderella
• The Elves and the Shoemaker
• Puss in Boots
• The Twelve Dancing Princesses , and
• Red Shoes  by Hans Christian Andersen.

See the shoe possibilities really are endless!