Deloris M. Jordan

Two stars for the generic text, but four for the beautiful illustrations of a wholesome, happy family. The prayer here is a series of promises to the baby that he will be loved, blessed, and cared for. There's one sentence on each page, but (despite the illustrations showing the child growing up) don't expect the text to flow together into a story. In fact, at least one textual
transition is downright awkward: "You will be showered with many blessings along the way," is followed by, "It can show more and will come true." What is the "it" that will come true? I have no idea. show less

Michael Jordan has never been small, except when he was. I love the idea of professional athletes as kids, the trouble they probably started and the search for victory. Plus Jordan is obviously a childhood hero of mine. I had the poster of his arms stretched out over my bed as a kid and saved enough mac n' cheese box tops to get the Space Jam poster too. I enjoyed hearing about a time when Jordan he was too small and asked his mom how to get tall, she responded by telling him to put salt in show more his shoes at night. If mom could grow big flowers, she could make Michael taller for sure. after two months, it nothing changed, but Jordan was talked into returning to the game by his family and because he does return, they win the game. The story also deals with a bully character that Michael handles by retaliating with sports. A healthy outlet for me as a kid was also sports. Whether that meant running forever with soccer or taking a good fall on my skateboard, they were outlets for aggression that were much safer than some alternatives. Kadir Nelson's paintings still focus on light and dark but you can kind of tell he let his imagination explore more. The characters are all very realistic until it comes to perspective. They look somewhat like a Norman Rockwell paintings in the sense that some hands, feet, and heads are slightly disproportionate to their bodies. And often the typical joints of the body are often very narrowed, possibly hinting at poverty or malnutrition. Overall I think it's just style and I love it. Kadir tends to focus on Hyperrealism but here he use a more cartoon atmosphere, probably because Michael Jordan seems so unreal to anyone who has seen him play basketball. show less

Salt in His Shoes is a story about a young Michael Jordan who just wants to be taller. After being bullied for being the littlest on his brother’s neighborhood basketball team, Michael asked his mother how to grow taller and she replies “Salt in your shoes. We’ll put salt in your shoes and say a prayer every night. Before you know it, you’ll be taller.” While he waits to become taller he practices hard and remains patient. Despite not growing taller by the end of the book he goes show more back to playing on the team with more confidence and skill and puts the bully in his place. Even though I don’t look like anyone from this book’s illustrations, I can connect with the text because of my experiences as an athlete. Some teachers might be cautious about losing the interest of White, Asian, or Native American students when focusing on a book of all African American characters but the book still will interest students who are athletes, or follow professional sports, or are learning patience and perseverance, or who just want to see inside the life of a family that does not outwardly look like their own. show less

In my opinion, this is a wonderful book! One thing I really liked about this book were the characters and the language used to help develop them. While telling this story about Michael Jordan, the author includes details that make his character extremely relatable. For example, in one part of the story they show Michael's room with his growth chart; a common thing that children have in their rooms. They also discuss an obstacle that Michael had to overcome, which shows the reader that he was show more just like any other child and was also discouraged at some point in his life. I like how they used the word "mama" when referring to Michael's mother and how they went on to say that she "knew answers to a lot of questions." This helps us understand Michael's close relationship with his mother. The fact that he did just as his mother had told him to do also shows how much he looked up to her and trusted her advice. Another thing that I liked about this book was that it pushes the reader to think about tough issues and may help to broaden their perspectives. It does this by showing that it is possible to overcome discouraging obstacles, such as the one Michael faced, by giving them a real life example of how an extremely tall and successful basketball player once believed that he would be too short to play. I also really liked the illustrations in this story. They were very detailed and realistic. For example, when his mother is in the kitchen cooking and thinking of how to respond to his question, her body language and facial expressions in the illustration clearly show the reader that she is pondering something. There are also smaller details such as the bags under Michael's eyes and the clearly defined muscle on the other players that enhance the story and make it feel real. I believe that the overall message of this story is that faith, hope, determination, and hard work are the most important things to focus on when trying to achieve a goal. The salt in his shoes was not what helped Michael; it was the encouragement from his parents and his confidence in himself that eventually allowed him to be successful. show less