Review: Shoe-La-La by Karen Beaumont, illustrated by LeUyen Pham

 Shoe-La-La
by Karen Beaumont, illustrated by LeUyen Pham
2011 | 40 pages | Picture Book (Preschool to Grade 1)

Shoe-La-La is a new picture book about four little fashionistas and a shoe shopping spree. At first glance, it seems to belong in the same category as the books in the Pinkalicious and Fancy Nancy series, which I'm not crazy about, but this is actually a really neat story with a surprisingly empowering message.

The rhyming text tells the tale of a group of friends who go to the shoe store in search of party shoes.

Party dresses, party hair...
Need new party shoes to wear.
Emily, Ashley, Kaitlyn, Claire!
Let's go find the perfect pair.

With the help of a salesman in a suit and mustache, they try on every kind of shoe imaginable - shoes that "look good enough to eat" and "show off my pretty feet"  -  but even though experimenting with different styles is a lot of fun, nothing really suits what they're looking for.

Can't decide. We've seen too many.
Sorry, sir we don't want any.

Finally, they go home and design their own shoes, using pairs they already had, and various craft supplies.

The illustrations are by LeUyen Pham, who also illustrates the Alvin Ho books. I love her style to begin with, but the Alvin Ho illustrations are only black and white. There is so much more to see in her colored art!

The four little girls have wonderful, expressive faces, and the lines and shapes of their bodies say so much about their personalities, moods, and styles. Their diversity is portrayed in color, texture, and even clothing. I especially love the patterns on their fancy dresses on the final page of the book, after they're all dressed up in their party best. The shoes, too, have so many neat styles, little girls could spend a long time inspecting the many varieties shown on each page. I also love the girls' eyes - they're so different from other artists' facial features, giving this book a look that really stands out.

I tend to groan when I see pink, sparkly books on the shelves, and I despise shoes and shoe shopping, but this picture book is actually fun, expressive, and positive, and in the end, it promotes the girls' own creativity over the commercialism of their shopping spree, which I love.

Pair this book with The Red Shoes (2008) by Eleri Glass, illustrated by Ashley Spires, which tells of a mother/daughter shoe shopping trip, or The Yellow Tutu by Kirsten Bramsen, illustrated by Carin Bramsen (which I reviewed here), for another empowering story involving fancy clothes.


I borrowed Shoe-La-La from my local public library.