Any good children's book worth its salt, will have excellent illustrations. This one does.Second criteria for a children's book is that you, the adult, won't mind reading it over and over again.Marla Frazee's whimsical illustrations are wonderfully captivating. It is that children's book that you and your little listener can look at over and over for a long time. Add to that, the story line is sweet and clever- Two dogs from the same litter live together, doing everything together until one day a squirrel wreaks havoc and both Boot and Shoe begin to chase that squirrel all over the yard. When the chase was over, Boot finds himself on the front porch and Shoe finds himself on the back porch. They search for each other on their respective porches and finally give up hope of ever seeing one another again. Until...My two year old and three year old grandchildren loved reading this book with me, hunting for Boot and Shoe, tracing the squirrel chase all over the page.If you love the Mr. Putter books by Cynthia Rylant, you will want to add this book to your collection. The story "Boot & Shoe" are about two dogs that take one another for granted until they think the other has gone missing after a squirrel encounter. In the end, the dogs are overjoyed to find each other and choose to spend time together.Little kids, like 3-year olds, might appreciate this story. It is repetitive and simple, but kind of boring for adults. The squirrel provided a little comic relief, but squirrels don't really behave as described in the story. Dogs chase squirrels because they like to chase things, not because the squirrels harass the dogs first. Kids might get the wrong idea about squirrels. I don't know why this bugged me, but it did.The only other thing I didn't care for was that the dogs looked like cats in illustrations. I think it would have been better to have the dogs look like dogs.
What do You think about Boot Shoe Ha (2012)?
Then one day,for no apparent reason,a squirrel started some trouble.
—rynbusbus
So incredibly cute. The illustrations are wonderful.
—Ayesha
Would be a great read-aloud for ages 4-5.
—NourElkhatib
