When Jem's mother falls ill and nothing seems to wake her from her deathly sleep, the young boy's father sets off for the Holy City of St. James, in order to pray for her recovery, leaving his son in charge of their shoe-making business. Shortly thereafter, Jem is visited by a series of strange visitors - a group of three childlike people with green skin and spindly arms; a sinister knight in black armor; and a knight in white armor - each of which has a connection to the mysterious "three keys" depicted on the white knight's crest. Fulfilling his promise, both to make the black knight a pair of boots, and to keep the white knight's package safe, Jem is given a reward that aids his mother...

I'm not sure if Joan Aiken's The Shoemaker's Boy is presented as a picture-book in other editions - I requested it, sight unseen, through inter-library loan, and thought that it came in that form - but the small paperback edition I read is actually a short five-chapter book, midway between a leveled reader and a full novel. The story itself is engrossing, with plenty of folk motifs and medieval historical elements to keep young readers entertained. Aiken's writing here is engaging, and I appreciated the fact that she didn't tie everything up completely. It's clear the black and white knights, for instance, fought in the night (something confirmed by Jem's father's story, at the conclusion of the book), but where do the three green child-like men fit in? All in all, an interesting beginning-reader fantasy, that had the feeling of a fairy-tale. Recommended to Joan Aiken fans, and to anyone looking for entertaining stories for very beginning chapter-book readers. ( )

When his father goes off on a long quest to find a way to cure his wife's mysterious illness, a shoemaker's son has some strange and frightening experiences.