Shoe Town

by Janet Stevens, Susan Stevens Crummel

Little mama mouse dreams of a hot bath and a long nap. Her babies have grown up and moved away from their snug shoe-home. Mama imagines settling into a quiet life, until Tortoise, Hare, and other storybook strangers turn up in search of a home. Soon Mama has a busy life--and lots of new friends--in glorious Shoe Town. Janet Stevens and Susan Stevens Crummel’s toe-tapping rhymed text in tandem with Janet Stevens’s sole ful illustrations gives the notion of one mama’s “empty nest” a hilarious kick.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Fiction

24 pages, Hardcover

First published March 1, 1999

About the author

Janet Stevens began drawing as a child. Pictures decorated her walls, mirrors, furniture and school work -- including math assignments. While this didn't always sit well with her teachers, it was what she loved to do.

Janet’s father was in the Navy therefore she moved a great deal and attended many schools while growing up.

After graduating from high school in Hawaii in 1971 she landed a job creating Hawaiian designs for fabric. The printed fabric was then made into aloha shirts and muumuus. After she graduated from the University of Colorado in 1975 with a degree in Fine Arts Janet began compiling a portfolio of “characters”, bears in tutus, rhinos in sneakers, and walruses in Hawaiian shirts. In 1977, she attended “The Illustrator's Workshop” in New York City, where it was suggested that her characters might find a home in a children's book. Luckily for libraries (and children's book readers in general), publishers agreed and her first book was published in 1979.

Janet is the author and illustrator of many original stories and frequently collaborates with her sister, Susan Stevens Crummel. Her trademark humorous animals also accompany the texts by such authors as Eric Kimmel and Coleen Salley,

Janet has received numerous book awards, including a Caldecott Honor Award, Time Magazine’s Ten Best Children’s Books , the Wanda Gág Best Read-Aloud Book. Child Magazine’s Best Books of the Year.. Janet's books have been named ALA Notables and have repeatedly appeared on the New York Times Best Seller List.

She is particularly proud of her state book awards, voted on by children -- which include Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Indiana, Kansas, Maine, Maryland, Missouri, New York, North Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Nebraska and Washington. Janet has received the prestigious Texas Bluebonnet Award twice.

Reviews

[Catherine · Rating 2 out of 5]

The copy I have is a leveled reader from an aging basal reading series. A book by the very talented sisters, Janet Stevens and Susan Stevens Crummel, it would be very much more attractive if it is available in a full sized version. The story incorporates characters that young readers may recognize and enjoy seeing in a new setting, including the cow who jumped over the moon, the Little Red Hen, Tortoise and Hare, and others.

[Stephen Snyder · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautifully illustrated, this well told tales will tickle the imaginations of children.

The book shows children that although we are all different, we still share the same needs such as living in a home and living with neighbors who are different from us.

Bravo Janet Stevens and Susan Stevens Crummel.

[J.R. LaMar · Rating 3 out of 5]

As always I love Janet Stevens illustrations but I also loved how she added characters from her other books such as the Tortoise and Hare though the ending was a bit underwhelming and there wasn’t much of a story arc in this one.

[Kelly Chester · Rating 5 out of 5]

Super cute book adorable

[Krista the Krazy Kataloguer · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked this up for Janet Stevens' artwork, which I love. In the story, a mouse who lives in a shoe is approached by various animals who want to live with her in the shoe. If you've read other books by Stevens you'll recognize the other animals as characters from those books (the tortoise and the hare, the hen who baked the bread alone, the wolf from Red Riding Hood, the cow who jumped over the moon). The story is pretty simple, but then this is a beginning reader. Not her best effort, but good.

[Horace Mann Family Reading Challenge · Rating 3 out of 5]

First a mouse then his friends come! A.

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book because there was a little mouse that had a shoe. I also enjoyed this book because the little mouse was going to take a bath with hot water.

[Julia Jasztal · Rating 1 out of 5]

Book-in-Bag ** Scherkenbach Elementary ** 1st Grade
#19