Finding Kate's Shoes

Sylvia Pantaleo is an assistant professor of education specializing in
children’s literature at the University of Victoria. She is the
co-author of Learning with Literature in the Canadian Elementary
Classroom.

In the book’s frontispiece, readers are told that “Kate and her mom
are running late and Kate’s shoes have gone missing!” Readers are
invited to help Kate and her mother search for the shoes. After the
frontispiece, there is no text; the book is essentially a wordless
picture book.

Kate and her mother search for the shoes in imaginary landscapes that
include the sea, a garden, a desert, a jungle, the Arctic, and a forest
with a waterfall. They also search for Kate’s shoes in their house
under the rug, under the couch, in the clothes dryer, in the
refrigerator, and in the dishwasher. Double-page spreads of Kate and her
mother looking for the shoes in the imaginary landscapes alternate with
double-page spreads of them searching in the house. In each illustration
of the house, the upper-right-hand corner of the right page contains a
glimpse of the landscape that greets readers when they turn the page.
There are also items in the house (e.g., cacti on the wallpaper, an
iguana on the dryer) that foreshadow the next imaginary landscape.

Dornbusch’s illustrations are rendered in pencil crayons and the
landscapes are bright and colorful. Unfortunately, the shoes are too
easily located in the landscapes. However, children will enjoy following
the antics of the dog and cat in the illustrations. The mysterious
appearance of the shoes at the end of the story provides fodder for
discussion. Recommended.