Review: Shoes: Their History in Words and Pictures by Charlotte and David Yue

Synopsis: The Yues join forces in their fifth nonfiction book for children to provide an absorbing overview of a familiar subject- shoes. In this comprehensive volume on the history of shoes, Charlotte and David Yue walk us through such subjects as the earliest shoe, the social and political significance of shoes in history, ancient and modern shoe design, shoe manufacturing, shoes in legend and literature, and what shoes reveal about their wearers. A complete resource on a subject with which children already are familiar. (from the back of the book)

Review: This is a kid's book about shoes. Therefore, the sentence structure and general vocabulary are simple. Yet, the authors did not shy away from using the proper names for the different kids of shoes, using the correct Latin, Greek, French or Spanish. Well-organized, with drawn pictures of each shoe, this is a fine starting resource for costuming and history reports. The bibliography in the back is excellent and an excellent resource for further study. My qualm is that book would highly benefit from color pictures, in particular of actual historical artifacts from museums. I would also like to read an updated version, as this was published in 1997. Overall, it's an informative read about an interesting subject.

Bookmarks: 6.5 of 10

Awards: None

ISBN: 0-395-72667-0
Date Finished: 2-1-2014
Pages: 91