Karen English

this was an interesting sister relationship book. not much happened, although we observed through the eyes of our 12 year old protagonist the effects of skin shade on the experience of racism, of the daily humiliations experienced by people of color, and the historical event of the Watts riots in 1965. The book felt suburban and dealt with the experience of working parents and was a little to detailed in the separation of the parents due to the father cheating. the word whore was bantered about without much context or explanation.… (more)

The first half of the book is delightful. It's about a little girl who gets a pair of beautiful red shoes. We see some key events during the year when she wears the shoes, but after a while, her feet grow too big for them. I wish the book had focused a little more on the girl giving up her red shoes since she loved them so much. I think there was a bit of a missed opportunity on teaching kids when to let go of something for their own good.

The second half of the book shows what happened to the shoes and how they were bought by someone who lives in Ghana and were given to her niece. Now, as nice and wholesome as that is, it's a little dubious to frame someone from another country wanting a pair of well-used shoes. I just think there are some undertones there that aren't completely culturally sensitive, as well-intentioned as they may be. Personally, I would have preferred seeing the original girl finding something else that made her feel special and the shoes being passed down to sibling or cousin that had been long admiring the shoes.

Overall, it's still a sweet book with clear positive intentions. I just think that the second half of the book wasn't as well thought out as it could have been.… (more)