Red Shoes illustrated by Ebony Glenn by Karen English A dazzling journey!
illustrated by Ebony Glenn by Karen English
SCHOLASTIC INC.
Red shoes dazzling — perched on a pedestal in the shop window as if on a throne. “I want those, Nana,” Malika says to her grandmother as they pass the shop. “We’ll see,” Nana says with a wink. “Looks like you could use a new pair.”
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Surprise! Red shoes nestled — in a shoebox under tissue paper on the kitchen table! Nana smiles her secret smile.
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Malika laughs and slips them on quick, quick.
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Red shoes walking, click-clack-click — across the floor on Malika’s feet . . .
Swish, swish, swish around the living room . . .
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Click-clack-clack — down the hall . . .
Then out the door and around the block Malika goes, to show off her new red shoes.
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Carefully, carefully on the first day of school Malika walks in big galoshes that hide her shoes from the rain. She wants to keep them dry when she jumps in puddles!
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Red shoes dancing — on Daddy’s feet when they go to Auntie’s wedding in the fall.
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Red shoes kicking Cousin Jamal under the table at Nana’s Christmas dinner as he tries to snitch Malika’s buttery biscuit.
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Red shoes stomping home when Malika and her best friend Keisha have a fight. Malika is mad and sticks to it.
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Red shoes jumping double Dutch at Keisha’s birthday party after they make up.
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Then — oh no! Red shoes pinching — when Malika squeezes them on to wear to Nana’s birthday dinner at a restaurant. Then — oh no!
Red shoes pinching — when Malika squeezes them on to wear to Nan ’s birthday dinner at a restaurant.
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“My shoes are too small,” Malika says sadly. And all through dinner her red shoes don’t let her forget that her feet have grown!
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Red shoes in the window at the resale shop where Nana and Malika have taken them to be resold so somebody else can enjoy them.
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Softly, softly, Malika says goodbye to her wonderful red shoes. They were her favorite shoes ever.
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Inna Ziya spies the red shoes dazzling in the shop window. She knows just the little girl who will love them!
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Now they are squeezed into her luggage bound for Ghana!
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Red shoes under Inna Ziya’s bench in the marketplace where she sells her clay pots.
They are waiting for Amina, the girl who fasted half the month of Ramadan. The girl who deserves a special gift.
And here she comes at last, holding her mother’s hand.
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Inna Ziya smiles down at Amina. “I promised you a gift, and here it is.”
Red shoes are passed to Amina’s waiting hands. “Thank you, Auntie,” she says. “They are so beautiful!”
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Then later, red shoes riding on the tro-tro on Amina’s lap.
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Back at home, Amina’s little sister, Halima, rushes to see the gift for the girl who fasted half the month of Ramadan, because someday she hopes to do the same.
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Amina lets her try them on, but just for a little while.
Halima will have them soon enough . . . when Amina’s feet grow too big and Halima’s feet grow big enough.
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Now the red shoes are tucked safely under the bed, waiting to be worn on very special days.
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Meanwhile, back on the other side of the ocean, Malika wonders: Whatever happened to my beautiful red shoes. . . .
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. . . I wonder if someone is wearing them right now!
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For Khadijah —K.E. For Gabby —E.G.
Special thanks to Carina Ray, Associate Professor of African and African American Studies, Brandeis University, for her thoughtful reading and sensitive comments.
Ebony Glenn’s illustrations were rendered digitally with Adobe Photoshop using chalk, paper, and watercolor textures. The text type was set in 16-pt. BernhardGothicSG Medium. The display type was set in Miltonian Tattoo. The book was art directed and designed by Marijka Kostiw, and edited by Dianne Hess. No part of this publication may be reproduced in whole or in part, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission of the publisher. For information regarding permission, write to Scholastic Inc., 557 Broadway, New York, NY 10012.
Text copyright © 2020 by Karen English. Illustrations copyright © 2020 by Ebony Glenn. All rights reserved. Published by Scholastic Inc. Made in North Point, Hong Kong. 137
ISBN-13: 978-1-338-75295-3 ISBN-10: 1-338-75295-2
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