Pete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes by Eric Litwin

Pete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes  Author: Eric Litwin Illustrator: James Dean  Publisher: HarperCollins  Copyright: 03/02/2010  Number of Pages: 31   Genre: Picture Book  

Pete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes is one of many books featuring Pete the Cat.  In this book, Pete has a brand new pair of white shoes!  As the book continues, Pete steps in quite a few colorful piles by mistake.  Each time his shoes change colors, Pete doesn't get down!  He just sings a song about the new color of his shoes.  At the end of the book, the narrator tells the reader that "no matter what you step in, keep walking along and singing your song... because it's all good."  Similar to the theme of I'm Gonna Like Me by Jamie Lee Curtis, this book is great for building a safe and loving community in the classroom.  It is always encouraging for students to hear that everything is okay, even when they mess up.

Because the book is so repetitive, Pete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes is a great book to read when teaching retell (most likely to Kindergarten).  While the majority of the book remains the same over and over again, the color of his shoes changes each time.  By having students recall the order of the colors, the lesson can easily help students to master the basic concept of retelling before moving on to a harder book.  

The illustrations in this book are very colorful.  They appear to be sketched and filled in using paint.  While the illustrations are quite cartoon-like, they also have a more realistic approach due to the line patterns and lack of "bubbly" features.