Shoes From Grandpa

Author : Mem Fox

Illustrator : Patricia Mullins

Format : Paperback

Condition : New

Dimensions : 23cm x 28.5cm x 0.5cm

About Shoes From Grandpa

“One summer, Jessie’s father invited all the family over for a barbecue. When Grandpa saw Jessie he said, ‘My, how you’ve grown! You’ll need a new pair of shoes this winter and I’ll buy them.’ …And her dad said,’I'll buy you some socks from the local shops to go with the shoes from Grandpa. And her mum said, ‘I’ll buy you a skirt that won’t show the dirt, to go with the socks from the local shops, to go with the shoes from Grandpa,’ And her cousin said…’

One night in May, many years ago, as summer was changing rather suddenly to winter, I lay in bed wondering whether Chloë had enough warm clothes. In my head I said, ‘I’ll buy her some socks from the local shops.’ The rhythm of the phrase seemed familiar, yet incomplete. After a few minutes I remembered the line I’d been trying to think of—it was from The House that Jack Built:

‘This is the cat that ate the rat… (I’ll buy her some socks from the local shops)
that lay in the house that Jack built.’ (Da da-da da da, da dah da.)

I couldn’t sleep. The pattern was easy to conquer:

‘I’ll buy her some socks from the local shops, to go with the shoes from Grandpa…’

but the rhymes were difficult. Nevertheless I had the bit between my teeth and spent the next few months honing the story.

Two infelicitous rhymes remain in the published text. I hadn’t realised until I read the book aloud in America that the American accent would change the rhyme of laugh and scarf, both of which are pronounced ‘arf’ in the English and Australian accents. In the USA I had ‘laff ‘ and ’scorrrrf.’ So I have to teach American kids the English accent when I read the book in the US. They sound very cute.

The other rhyme that still bothers me a little is ‘blouse’ and ‘bows’. In my final draft I had written blouse to rhyme with flowers but the editor and illustrator were accidentally working from not-the-final draft. When I discovered the mistake it was too late to rectify it because the illustrations had been done and they showed lots of bows! Ah well. These things happen and we move on. The books still works—in much the same way as Hattie and the Fox. The same wonderful illustrator, Patricia Mullins, did both books.

Brief Introduction of Mem Fox

Mem Fox was born in Australia, grew up in Africa, studied drama in England, and returned to Adelaide, Australia in 1970, where she has lived with her husband, Malcolm, and daughter Chloë, happily ever after.

Mem Fox is Australia’s most highly regarded picture-book author. Her first book, Possum Magic, is the best selling children’s book ever in Australia, with sales of over three and a half million. And in the USA Time for Bed and Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge have each sold over a million copies. Time for Bed is on Oprah’s list of the twenty best children’s books of all time. Mem has written over thirty picture books for children and five non-fiction books for adults, including the best-selling Reading Magic, aimed at parents of very young children. Her most recent book Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes beautifully illustrated by Helen Oxenbury, was on the New York Times bestseller lists for 16 weeks in 2008/2009.

Mem Fox was an Associate Professor in Literacy Studies at Flinders University in Adelaide (Australia), where she taught teachers for twenty four years until her early retirement in 1996. She has received many civic awards, honours and accolades in Australia, including two honorary doctorates. She has visited the United States over one hundred times, mostly in her role as a literacy expert although she is also a well-known author in America. She is an influential international consultant in literacy, but she pretends to sit around writing full time.

Her new book, about to be released in June 2009, is Hello Baby!. She hopes everyone, especially babies, will adore it.

More Books By Mem Fox

Hello Baby! (2009)
Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes (2008)
Where The Giant Sleeps (2009)
A Particular Cow (2006)
Hunwick’s Egg (2005)
Where is the Green Sheep? (2004)
The Magic Hat (2002)
Harriet, You’ll Drive Me Wild! (2000)
Sleepy Bears (1999)
Whoever You Are (1998)
Boo to a Goose (1996)
Wombat Divine (1995)
Tough Boris (1994)
Time for Bed (1993)
Memories (1992)
Sophie (1989)
Shoes from Grandpa (1989)
Feathers and Fools (1989)
Night Noises (1989)
With Love at Christmas (1988)
Koala Lou (1988)
Guess What? (1988)
Goodnight Sleep Tight (1988)
A Bedtime Story (1987)
The Straight Line Wonder (1987)
Sail Away: The Ballad of Skip and Nell (1986)
Just Like That (1986)
Hattie and the Fox (1986)
Arabella, the Smallest Girl in the World (1986)
Zoo Looking (1986)
A Cat called Kite (1985)
Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge (1984)
Possum Magic (1983)

Shoes From Grandpa