The Queen's Feet

by Sarah Ellis, Dušan Petričić (Illustrator)

Christie Harris Illustrated Children's Literature Prize (2007) nominee Canadian Children's Book Centre Our Choice, 2007 Queen Daisy can't help it - It's her feet that are misbehaving! Queen Daisy had a great deal of trouble with her feet. They had a mind of their own and did not like behaving in a royal way. Proper shoes were out of the question, and sometimes her feet did not wear shoes at all! Her feet were especially naughty when Queen Daisy forced them to dress properly. At balls her feet would kick high in the air or tap-dance on the marble palace floors. Once, when a king from a neighboring kingdom brought his mean, bullying ways to Queen Daisy's court, her feet hauled off and kicked the king in the ankle. That's when a meeting had to be called of all the wise women and wizards and footmen in the kingdom to find a solution to Queen Daisy's terrible problem. And what a solution it turns out to be. Queen Daisy's feet will dance into the hearts of restless feet everywhere. Sarah Ellis's wonderfully whimsical tale will ring a bell with all children and adults whose feet get restless. And Dusan Petricic illustrations may well encourage a little more unroyal behavior.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Royalty

32 pages, Paperback

First published January 9, 2006

About the author

Writer, columnist, and librarian Sarah Ellis has become one of the best-known authors for young adults in her native Canada with titles such as The Baby Project, Pick-Up Sticks, and Back of Beyond: Stories of the Supernatural. In addition to young adult novels, Ellis has also written for younger children and has authored several books about the craft of writing. Praised by Booklist contributor Hazel Rochman as "one of the best children's literature critics," Ellis "writes without condescension or pedantry. . . . Her prose is a delight: plain, witty, practical, wise."

Ellis was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, in 1952, the youngest of three children in her family. As she once noted, "[My] joy in embroidering the truth probably comes from my own childhood. My father was a rich mine of anecdotes and jokes. He knew more variations on the 'once there were three men in a rowboat' joke than anyone I've encountered since.

Reviews

[Sophia Triad]

A delightful little story in which the rebellious feet of the Queen are the main characters.

These feet do not want to behave in the Royal way. They do not want to wear proper shoes. They prefer gumboots, heavy boots, slippers with faces, sandals or sometimes nothing at all.

These feet also like to climb, to dance the hornpipe, to escape from boring royal dinners, to dive into the goldfish pond, to be naughty at royal balls and sometimes to kick bullies.

It’s kind of a silly story, but I promise to you that your kid will giggle when you read it.

[Melki]

A rather strange story about not taking responsibility for your own actions . . . I suppose. The Queen's feet get the blame for her "unacceptable" behavior like the fact that she'd rather be doing things than sitting around being all regal. Why can't she do what she likes? She's the freakin' Queen, for crying out loud!

[Becky]

A goofy little story about a restless queen whose feet don’t like to behave. My daughter seemed to like it.

[Arielle]

This book was fun! Slightly mischievous accompanied by fun illustration. Clear beginning, middle, and end with a sweet solution.

[American Mensa]

The Queen’s Feet is a picture book about why our parents tries to teach us to act properly. The story is told by a narrator about a queen’s feet doing whatever they want, no matter how inappropriate it seems to society. This book reminds me of the many times when my parents tell me to be quiet or get up from the floor and I had no idea why they would tell me to be what I don’t want to be or act how I don’t want to act. Now I understand that it must be because I was acting like the Queen’s Feet. My favorite part of the book was seeing how the Queen’s Feet compromised in a way that it could be both naughty and proper, just not at the same time. This is just like when my parents allow me to have my silly time and I get to be as silly as I want. My least favorite part of the book was how it didn’t say how people got the Queen to agree to sort it out. I would recommend this book to kids because it is a very fun way to explain to kids why our parents and teachers tell us how to behave sometimes.
Reviewed by Juliette L., 5, San Francisco Regional Mensa

[Ryan]

This book was fully unique. We have a queen and her feet do not live in shoes. Honestly, I don’t blame her. Her feet may want to play in the mud, run in the sand, or wear completely inappropriate shoes but the queen still has a job to do. After gathering as many people in the land that know anything about feet as possible, they’ve come up with a plan. What I really like about this book is the story is simple, but fun, but the illustrations. The illustrations remind me of some of the jazz sessions of Sesame Street. Things like the number song when they count to 12. That type of atlas illustration. Sometimes that type of illustration can feel old but in this book it the illustration feels unique and perfect for the story.

[Jennifer]

A silly story about a queen who just cannot get her feet to behave, no matter what she tries. The illustrations are fun and the rhythm is nice, this will make a nice read aloud, especially for kids who don't like to sit still or have fun getting their bodies to behave. :)

[Jennifer Kendall]

Fun picture book for older children who might understand the puns and larger vocabulary.

[Debra]

A fun easy reader with child like humor.

[Syntha Green]

Simply ridiculous (in a good way)

[Jessica]

This was goofy. A queen's feet do mischievous and unqueenly things. I like the resolution to the problem. I wasn't a huge fan of the illustrations. Her husband at the end was cool.

[Melanie, Aaron, Annie, and Mary Project]

Read by: Annie
Author: Sarah Ellis Illustrator: Dusan Petricic
Genre: Historical Fiction
Interest Level: K - 1
Grade Level Equivalent: N/A

This is a quick and silly picture book. The Queen's feet are completely out of control, not acting in a regal way at all. A big meeting is called to deal with the problem of the Queen's feet in order to get them to behave properly.

[Katie Fitzgerald]

Read at family story time on 7/30/11: http://storytimesecrets.blogspot.com/...

Read at Preschool Story Time on 1/13/12: http://storytimesecrets.blogspot.com/...

[Shannon]

Probably better for kids that are in the 5-8 yr range. Cute story about the queen and her feet that want to be rebellious.

[kim]

read this to the kindergartener. it was a bit random, a little bit cute, and slightly weird. she liked it though.

[Sarah]

N said: crazy and funny

It has a terrible rating, but its pretty amusing.