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The Girl, the Bear and the Magic Shoes
A glittering magical adventure about a girl, a bear and some very special shoes from the bestselling creators of What the Ladybird Heard and Sugarlump and the Unicorn . When Josephine leaves the shoe shop after buying some new running shoes, she hears an unusual sound – Click-click! Click-click! It's a bear with a backpack! Luckily for Josephine, her new shoes are anything but ordinary – these are magic shoes. But can they help her escape the bear when there's a mountain, a bog and even a lake in her way? The Girl, the Bear and the Magic Shoes is an exciting adventure from the stellar picture-book partnership of Julia Donaldson and Lydia Monks, creators of What the Ladybird Heard . Full of action and imagination, and with a delightfully unexpected ending, this gorgeously glittery book is one to enjoy over and over again. Enjoy all the stories from Julia Donaldson and Lydia Sharing a Shell, The Princess and the Wizard, The Rhyming Rabbit, The Singing Mermaid, Sugarlump and the Unicorn, Princess Mirror-Belle and the Dragon Pox, What the Ladybird Heard, What the Ladybird Heard Next and What the Ladybird Heard on Holiday .
32 pages, Paperback
Published April 4, 2019
About the author
Julia Donaldson
1,241 books1,977 followersGrowing up
I grew up in a tall Victorian London house with my parents, grandmother, aunt, uncle, younger sister Mary and cat Geoffrey (who was really a prince in disguise. Mary and I would argue about which of us would marry him).
Mary and I were always creating imaginary characters and mimicking real ones, and I used to write shows and choreograph ballets for us. A wind-up gramophone wafted out Chopin waltzes.
I studied Drama and French at Bristol University, where I met Malcolm, a guitar-playing medic to whom I’m now married.
Busking and books
Before Malcolm and I had our three sons we used to go busking together and I would write special songs for each country; the best one was in Italian about pasta.
The busking led to a career in singing and songwriting, mainly for children’s television. I became an expert at writing to order on such subjects as guinea pigs, window-cleaning and horrible smells. “We want a song about throwing crumpled-up wrapping paper into the bin” was a typical request from the BBC.
I also continued to write “grown-up” songs and perform them in folk clubs and on the radio, and have recently released two CDs of these songs.
One of my television songs, A SQUASH AND A SQUEEZE, was made into a book in 1993, with illustrations by the wonderful Axel Scheffler. It was great to hold the book in my hand without it vanishing in the air the way the songs did. This prompted me to unearth some plays I’d written for a school reading group, and since then I’ve had 20 plays published. Most children love acting and it’s a tremendous way to improve their reading.
My real breakthrough was THE GRUFFALO, again illustrated by Axel. We work separately - he’s in London and I’m in Glasgow - but he sends me letters with lovely funny pictures on the envelopes.
I really enjoy writing verse, even though it can be fiendishly difficult. I used to memorise poems as a child and it means a lot to me when parents tell me their child can recite one of my books.
Funnily enough, I find it harder to write not in verse, though I feel I am now getting the hang of it! My novel THE GIANTS AND THE JONESES is going to be made into a film by the same team who made the Harry Potter movies, and I have written three books of stories about the anarchic PRINCESS MIRROR-BELLE who appears from the mirror and disrupts the life of an otherwise ordinary eight-year-old. I have just finished writing a novel for teenagers.
When I’m not writing I am often performing, at book festivals and in theatres. I really enjoy getting the children in the audience to help me act out the stories and sing the songs. When Malcolm can take time off from the hospital he and his guitar come too. and it feels as if we’ve come full circle - back to busking.
I grew up in a tall Victorian London house with my parents, grandmother, aunt, uncle, younger sister Mary and cat Geoffrey (who was really a prince in disguise. Mary and I would argue about which of us would marry him).
Mary and I were always creating imaginary characters and mimicking real ones, and I used to write shows and choreograph ballets for us. A wind-up gramophone wafted out Chopin waltzes.
I studied Drama and French at Bristol University, where I met Malcolm, a guitar-playing medic to whom I’m now married.
Busking and books
Before Malcolm and I had our three sons we used to go busking together and I would write special songs for each country; the best one was in Italian about pasta.
The busking led to a career in singing and songwriting, mainly for children’s television. I became an expert at writing to order on such subjects as guinea pigs, window-cleaning and horrible smells. “We want a song about throwing crumpled-up wrapping paper into the bin” was a typical request from the BBC.
I also continued to write “grown-up” songs and perform them in folk clubs and on the radio, and have recently released two CDs of these songs.
One of my television songs, A SQUASH AND A SQUEEZE, was made into a book in 1993, with illustrations by the wonderful Axel Scheffler. It was great to hold the book in my hand without it vanishing in the air the way the songs did. This prompted me to unearth some plays I’d written for a school reading group, and since then I’ve had 20 plays published. Most children love acting and it’s a tremendous way to improve their reading.
My real breakthrough was THE GRUFFALO, again illustrated by Axel. We work separately - he’s in London and I’m in Glasgow - but he sends me letters with lovely funny pictures on the envelopes.
I really enjoy writing verse, even though it can be fiendishly difficult. I used to memorise poems as a child and it means a lot to me when parents tell me their child can recite one of my books.
Funnily enough, I find it harder to write not in verse, though I feel I am now getting the hang of it! My novel THE GIANTS AND THE JONESES is going to be made into a film by the same team who made the Harry Potter movies, and I have written three books of stories about the anarchic PRINCESS MIRROR-BELLE who appears from the mirror and disrupts the life of an otherwise ordinary eight-year-old. I have just finished writing a novel for teenagers.
When I’m not writing I am often performing, at book festivals and in theatres. I really enjoy getting the children in the audience to help me act out the stories and sing the songs. When Malcolm can take time off from the hospital he and his guitar come too. and it feels as if we’ve come full circle - back to busking.
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
March 21, 2021
What I like most about this book is the ability to be interactive with your grandchild/ child. Each page has different textures which helps to embed the story into their mind. Great little story.
October 27, 2019
I have two young girls. They love shoes and dressing up. In turn they absolutely loved this story about magic shoes. I as a parent am always looking for books that are toically relevent to the things that interest my kids but also tha are a pleasure to read and Julia never fails. This is funny and we have the edition wil the glitter on every page so i'ts not just a delight to look at but it is also interative and tactile. We absolutely love it!
October 25, 2018
At 7 my little girl is getting a little old for these now but her eyes still lit up at the chance to read it before her friends. Whimsical, delightful, and as funny and sweet as always the will make a wonderful addition to any child's book collection.
November 26, 2018
This is lovely and classic Julia Donaldson. Josephine buys some new magic shoes and has to escape a bear, her shoes adapt to the environment she is in and when the bear catches her she finds he only wants to return her old shoes that she left in the shop. Lots of repetetive rhyming.
November 20, 2025
We're so proud of you for reading this wonderful story! You learned something important: sometimes things that seem scary aren't scary at all. The bear just wanted to help Josephine! This teaches us not to judge too quickly. When someone looks different or acts differently, they might be trying to be kind, just like the bear. You can use this in school—give everyone a chance to show their good hearts. You're becoming such a smart reader, sweetheart!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 18, 2021
Julia Donaldson has managed to create a lovely story with a imaginative story that can be used in a cross-curricular manner allowing children to look at seasons, magic, friendships, shops and action words. The pictures are bright and inviting for all children and allow for lots of disscusion.
November 21, 2018
Entertaining read as usual for Donaldson and full of bright beautiful illustrations. Lots of imagination and lots of shoes!
February 4, 2019
The girl, The bear and the Magic Shoes is a good story to teach children about the importance of helping other people and not thinking about yourself all the time.
April 27, 2019
The bear is flowing the girl
June 2, 2019
Another great book from Julia Donaldson.
July 20, 2019
Fun 3yo liked it
September 20, 2019
A lovely little story popular with both my children.
May 13, 2020
Fantastic book, our 8 month old absolutely loves it. It is such a joy reading it to her.
April 17, 2021
The kids quite enjoyed this one.
July 8, 2023
A clever story with suspense all the way through. Nice use of a twist and not expected by Florence and I.
August 5, 2023
My six year old liked the story and I think it is quite charming. But it doesn’t get repeated reading requests like some of the other books - hence the 4 stars
April 13, 2026
Apie mergaitę su naujais batais ir mešką, kuri ją vijosi.
March 15, 2026
We thought that this was a fun book to read! The story was well written and it was easy to read and understand. I loved that the book rhymed in places too which was a lovely surprise and we have now read this many times! The illustrations in the book were great, they were nice, bright and colourful and they brought the story to life too. My daughter loved the book! It is 5 stars from me for this one - very highly recommended! We did read the copy initially on Kindle, but as my daughter enjoyed it so much we bought a copy of the book for her to have at home. Read numerous times 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023 and we have now donated our copy so charity so that other children and families can enjoy the story.
July 17, 2019
Reminiscent of We're Going On A Bear Hunt (at least, this is a great comparison text) this non-rhyming story from the tried-and-tested partnership between Julia Donaldson and Lydia Monks is an entertaining story with a twist! Perfect for introducing the little ones to stories with an element of surprise.
August 17, 2023
Other books by this team are better but this is cute enough.
August 30, 2018
Another brilliant Julia Donaldson book, my two girls absolutely loved it, my three year old was laughing the whole way through the book!
September 2, 2018
My children love Julia Donaldson books so we looked forward to reading this one. The story is simple enough, a girl gets some new shoes that happen to be magic- it turns out very lucky that they are, as a bear is following her! Will she get away? Lydia Monks’ illustrations were beautiful.
As an adult I didn’t enjoy this story as much as others by Donaldson, but both my children certainly did! It held their attention and both were full of smiles.
I would definitely recommend based on their reactions and the beautiful presentation.
“I loved it because it had magic shoes in it”-Amber-Belle (age 7)
“You read that again”- Toby (age 3)
I received a free advance digital copy in return for an honest review.
#TheGirlTheBearAndTheMagicShoes #NetGalley
As an adult I didn’t enjoy this story as much as others by Donaldson, but both my children certainly did! It held their attention and both were full of smiles.
I would definitely recommend based on their reactions and the beautiful presentation.
“I loved it because it had magic shoes in it”-Amber-Belle (age 7)
“You read that again”- Toby (age 3)
I received a free advance digital copy in return for an honest review.
#TheGirlTheBearAndTheMagicShoes #NetGalley
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews