Think of a world without problems, without cares, without...well...shoes! Have you ever stomped through leftover paper like a monster or plunged your feet into a chilly sleeping bag while camping? Maybe you've put your soles up against a Jacuzzi jet or found funny marks when you pulled off your socks. If so, you'll find company in this collection of musings about the beauties of being barefoot.

In twenty-six poems, Stefi Weisburd explores where we go, what we feel, and what shouldn't be underfoot when our feet are at their freest. Lori McElrath-Eslick adds color to these contemplations with lively watercolor illustrations.

Bare feet, how they look and, especially, how they feel are physical facts for small children, who will recognize the delight of walking on the sandy beach as well as the dislike of “doggy poo” and the other icky stuff no one wants to step on. The leap to metaphor imagines what feet feel like on an elephant, a butterfly, or a fly with a Velcro grip on the ceiling. Far from overwhelming the poetry, the watercolor illustrations extend the words and help explain them. Even some older grade-schoolers will enjoy this; it may get them to do some writing in the classroom and on their own. Grades K-3. --Ed Sullivan

Grade 1–5—Weisburd recognizes the marriage between bare feet and summer, and many of these 27 poems describe seasonal experiences, such as the first day of vacation, walking on the beach, and turning cartwheels at dusk after a long, hot day. The themes vary from quiet and touching, as in "Camping," in which a father warms his child's cold bare feet beneath his shirt and against his warm chest, to wildly imaginative, as in "Vacant Houses," which compares unworn shoes to real estate and describes flip-flops as "great lakefront property/a drummer lives downstairs/so be prepared for swacking sounds." The selections vary in length and form, and effectively use nontraditional structure when describing the joys of jumping on a trampoline or drawing a self-portrait with one's feet. Children of various races and cultures are portrayed, and "Mehndi Party" beautifully describes Southeast Asian cultural traditions that might be unfamiliar to some readers. The light, breezy watercolor illustrations lend an impressionistic tone and are thoughtful accompaniments to the sunny poems. This collection is ideal for sharing between morning romps in the dewy grass and afternoon strolls on the beach.—Shawn Brommer, South Central Library System, Madison, WI
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