Mama's Shoes

This loving tribute to the bond between mother and child is a soothing picture book for any toddlers experiencing separation anxiety, with tear-out cards to give to Mom in the back. This heartwarming story from bestselling illustrator Vanessa Brantley-Newton and award-winning author Caron Levis is a celebration of hard-working moms everywhere—and the children who love them. Perry knows all of Mama’s shoes. She knows that the zip-zup shoes are for skipping and swinging in the park. She knows that the pat-put shoes are for splishing and splashing in the rain. And she knows that no-shoes are for bath time and bedtime. But one morning Mama puts on click-clack shoes, and Perry wonders what these new shoes are for. When Mama drops Perry at Nan’s house, and the click-clack shoes take Mama away for the whole day, Perry decides she hates these shoes! Perry later hides the click-clack shoes . . . and all of Mama’s shoes, just in case. Mama then explains that the click-clack shoes bring her to work in the morning, and they will also bring her home to Perry every single evening—clickety-clack fast!

Caron Levis is the author of several picture books, including Feathers Together; This Way, Charlie; and Ida, Always, all illustrated by Charles Santoso; Stop That Yawn!, illustrated by LeUyen Pham; and Mama’s Work Shoes, illustrated by Vanessa Brantley-Newton. She is a professor and advisor for the New School’s Writing for Children/YA MFA program and a licensed social worker. Levis uses drama and writing to explore books, feelings, and imagination with kids through her author workshops. She lives in Brooklyn. Vanessa Brantley-Newton is a self-taught illustrator, doll maker, and crafter who studied fashion illustration at FIT and children’s book illustration at the School of Visual Arts in New York. She is the author and illustrator of Grandma’s Purse, Just Like Me, and Becoming Vanessa, and has illustrated numerous children’s books, including the New York Times bestsellers The King of Kindergarten and The Queen of Kindergarten by Derrick Barnes and Sewing Stories by Barbara Herkert. Vanessa currently makes her nest in Charlotte, North Carolina, with her husband, daughter, and a very rambunctious cat named Stripes.