Review: If the Shoe Fits

By Krista Bell; Illustrated By Craig Smith

Charlesbridge; 2008; 64 pages

Easy Reader; Short Chapter

Grades: Kindergarten - 3rd

ISBN: 978-1-58089-338-1

Cassie loves to dance, and dreams of being a professional dancer...if only she can overcome her fear of having an audience!

My Thoughts:
I am torn as to how to review this book. On the one hand, it was an engaging story which I feel kid's would relate to. On the other hand, I am not sure I agree with it being classified as an easy reader. The vocabulary in the book is fairly advanced, and some of it is quite specialized to dance. Also, the pictures are more of an afterthought. They illustrate the text, but will not help readers decode the text. It would be a great first chapter book, when readers are just starting to venture away from easy readers and into the fiction section. In that way, it is either the most advanced easy reader, or the least advanced juvenile chapter book.

That said, the book had good points and bad points. The pictures, though secondary to the text, were not particularly well done. I would have liked to perhaps see a little bit of color. The black and white sketches tended toward the messy, and perhaps color would have aided in decoding them. (Professional reviewers, below, did not agree with me.) The story was well done though. I appreciated that the best dancer in Cassie's class was a boy named Jake, whose father was also a talented dancer. It is refreshing to have a book that breaks stereotypes, especially since this as an easy reader it has a younger audience. I also felt that the characters were well developed. Children will sympathize with Cassie being torn between wanting to dance and being afraid to. This age group is just beginning to learn that emotions can be complicated, and things aren't always straight forward. It is important for them to be given examples of other people successfully coping with difficult situations.

The Thoughts of Others:

Kirkus Reviews actually felt that this book was not an easy reader. They did give it a positive review, though. They appreciated the illustrations and "likeable characters."

Sally Murphy reviewed the book for AussieReviews. She actually called it a junior novel, stating that the "high ratio of illustration to text and bite-sized chapters ...make the book accessible to readers as young as six or seven." She summed up the entire work with one word: lovely.