Silvia gets some bright red shoes from her aunt in the mail. They are too big for her, so she is sad. She then realizes that while she can not wear them at the moment, she can use them for other things, such as a doll bed or a holder for her shells and rocks collection.
Ages: 3-5
Source: Pierce College Library.

New Shoes for Silvia is a book about a little girl who gets a present from her aunt Rosita. They are bright, red shoes and Silvia loves them. The only problem is that they do not fit her and she has to wait several weeks until they do. I really like this book because I believe that it could teach the value of patience to children. Both the prose and the illustrations portray the long amount of time that it took for the shoes to fit Silvia. Early on in the book, it showed her mother being pregnant. At the end of the book when the shoes fit, her mother had given birth and was seen holding a baby. Although the book does not mention her pregnant mother or new sibling, it shows the passage of time. I also like that this book included Mexican American characters. Sometimes it can be hard to find books that minority children relate to, so this is a great option. The book even included some Spanish. "'Mira, mira,' she called. 'Look, look.'" I liked this because both Spanish speakers and English speakers could read and understand this book. ( )

Silvia, a young girl, receives a pair of red shoes from her Tia Rosita, and she finds a lot of different uses for the shoes until she can enough to fit in them.

Even though Silvia could not wear her new shoes because they were too big she didn't give up hope that she would be able to wear them one day. It is a story of hope and persistence, along with creativity along the way. Silvia found innovative ways to still use her new shoes, even if it weren't for walking. ( )

This isn't one of my favorite illustrated books, but it is cute and the moral of the story is the need for creative patience. Certainly, I can relate to that.

Silvia is a young girl who receives a delightful present of a new pair of bright red shoes. Alas, she is disappointed when trying them on and discovers they are too large. Using the shoes as beds for her dolls, and then a few weeks later attaching string to the shoes in order to pull the dolls through the fields with oxen, she fount another creative way to enjoy her shoes. Placing sea shells in the shoes, she found she could store her prized possessions and thus look at both the shells and the shoes.

Eventually, Sylvia grows and can wear the shoes.