Those Shoes

I read Those Shoes by Maribeth Boelts. This book hasn't received any major awards. This is one of my favorite books that I've found to do my blogs on. This book is about a boy name Jeremy who really wants a specific pair of black and white shoes, but his family can't afford them. Jeremy finds a pair of those shoes in the thrift shop, but they're too small for his feet. Jeremy doesn't care, and crams his feet inside those shoes and buys them. However, they're way too small and hurt too much to wear all day at school, so he wears the pair the guidance counselor gave him even though almost all the other kids make fun of him for them. There's a boy named Antonio whose shoes have to be taped up to keep them together. Jeremy notices that Antonio's feet are smaller than his, so he knows what he has to do. He gives his pair of black and white shoes to Antonio, and they become friends. This book is super sweet, and demonstrates what it really means to be humble. I think the appropriate grade level for this book would be kindergarten to eighth grade. I would most definitely read this book in my classroom. The way I would incorporate this book in my classroom would be to just do a read-aloud, and have discussion afterwards about the book to see what the kids can pull from it.