Peter and the Talking Shoes

by Kate Banks, Marc Rosenthal (Illustrator)

Peter, the son of a music man, is led on an adventure by the voice of his talking shoes

40 pages, Hardcover

First published March 8, 1994

About the author

Kate Banks has written many books for children, among them Max’s Words, And If the Moon Could Talk, winner of the Boston Globe–Horn Book Award, and The Night Worker, winner of the Charlotte Zolotow Award. She grew up in Maine, where she and her two sisters and brother spent a lot of time outdoors, and where Banks developed an early love of reading. “I especially liked picture books,” she says, “and the way in which words and illustrations could create a whole new world in which sometimes real and other times magical and unexpected things could happen.” Banks attended Wellesley College and received her masters in history at Columbia University. She lived in Rome for eight years but now lives in the South of France with her husband and two sons, Peter Anton and Maximilian.

http://us.macmillan.com/author/katebanks

Reviews

[Dolly · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fun and silly story about talking shoes that help a little boy as he goes on an adventure. His mission is simple: to buy a loaf of bread for his family. But when he loses the money, he has to get a series of things to barter for the bread. This book has the feel of a well-told folk tale and our girls enjoyed the story.

[Melissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my family's longtime favorites. Peter has new (hand-me-down) shoes, whose rich life experience comes in handy when he has to fetch a series of necessary objects for local merchants: a feather to make the baker's bread light, a key so the carpenter can unlock the door to the house she's working on, and so on. It's one of those delightful cumulative tales with a satisfying ending, and Marc Rosenthal's art is priceless. We have mad love for this quirky book.

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

My favorite part is that the sign on the tailor's door says "Euripides Eumenides."

[Rick · Rating 5 out of 5]

one of those great books to read aloud. Peter needs to go to all these different places to find what he is looking for all with the help of a talking shoe.One of my favorites