Picture Book Title

Image from www.barnesandnoble.com

Pete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes by Eric Litwin
Reviews:

School Library Journal:

PreSchool-Grade 1 A slight episode about a navy-blue cat, new white shoes, and maintaining a positive outlook. Pete the Cat strolls down the street singing, I love my white shoes, I love my white shoes, I love my white shoes. Then he steps in (actually climbs up) a huge hill of strawberries that turn his pristine sneakers red. Did Pete cry? Goodness, no! He kept walking along and singing his song. I love my red shoes.... He proceeds to step in a mound of blueberries and then a mud puddle, each incident changing his sneakers to a new hue (the colors never blend). Unsmiling but placid, Pete takes it all in stride. After stepping into a bucket more like a tub of water, he notices that his sneakers are not only white again, but also wet. Even though they are back to their original color, the next illustration perplexingly shows Pete walking along with each shoe sporting one of the four colors highlighted in the book. Bright, childlike illustrations show the long-limbed feline regularly altering his footwear but continuing not to watch where he's walking. The moral of the story keep going no matter what happens to you in life may sound like good advice, but it doesn't instill any sense of power in children it just tells them to accept their fate. The downloadable song might help spark interest, but there's not much here to get excited about.

Children's Literature:

When I read the picture book, I could not believe how simple yet creative it was. In a moment of intense jealousy, my anxious thought was, "That is so easy, I should have written the Pete the Cat story." Accessing the excitement of getting a new pair of shoes that every young reader in the picture book crowd remembers, Pete insists on wearing his new sneakers out of the store. Most children would think seriously about walking down the dirty street. What if they step in something? Pete has a song he sings about loving his white shoes. But "Oh no!" What did he step in? Now his new white shoes are red. But brave Pete never cries, just keeps walking and singing. A sharp child will wonder why Pete does not see those piles of stuff that will turn his white shoes a different color, especially the mud puddle. What on earth can Pete do? Luckily a bucket of water is his answer, but who wants to walk in wet, squeaky shoes? Eric Litwin has even offered a moral to Pete's story. James Dean is an engineer turned artist, but he never dreamed he'd end up drawing cat pictures. Obviously both Eric and James remember exactly what it was like to be a child. Eric, inspired by folk songs, fun, and folksy folks, is a guitar-strumming, song-singing, banjo-picking, tale-telling, harmonica-blowing guy. As the co-founder of The Learning Groove, he promotes early music education.

Response: 
This book was a lot of fun. It was fun to make up a song in my head and sing. It was very easy to get my nephews to interact with me while reading the book. They enjoyed guessing the colors and singing the song with me. The pictures where bright and went along with the story wonderfully.

Litwin, E., & Dean, J. (2010). Pete the cat: I love my white shoes. New York: Harper.