Item Detail

PreS-Gr 1Bird's New Shoes start off a fashion war in the jungle. Bird (bright blue and very self-confident) strides through the jungle with a pair of red oxfords on. Rat sees him, and wants a pair of shoes, too. So Rat gets some bright yellow shoes, and adds a bow tie. In a cumulative pattern, five more animals join the story, adding more clothes, until they all end up quarelling over which is the ``right'' pair of jeans. Just then, Bird walks by wearing nothing but his bright feathers, stating ``Oh, I like to be different.'' This story is nicely paced, but it is weakened when the cumulative language pattern is abandoned. The illustrations, too, are promising but flawed. The animals are cleverly drawn, and have lots of innate comic personality (snake wearing jeans is especially good). But the overall look is too busy. The animals are hard to distinguish from their jungle surroundings; the colors and textures are too similar. Riddell's illustrations work best on one double-paged spread on which the animals appear against a white background. There is a quiet, not too didactic, message in this story about peer pressure and conformity, but despite its attractive features, Bird's New Shoes is not an essential purchase. Lauralyn Persson, Wilmete Public Library, Ill. Copyright 1987 Cahners Business Information.