The first half of the book is delightful. It's about a little girl who gets a pair of beautiful red shoes. We see some key events during the year when she wears the shoes, but after a while, her feet grow too big for them. I wish the book had focused a little more on the girl giving up her red shoes since she loved them so much. I think there was a bit of a missed opportunity on teaching kids when to let go of something for their own good.

The second half of the book shows what happened to the shoes and how they were bought by someone who lives in Ghana and were given to her niece. Now, as nice and wholesome as that is, it's a little dubious to frame someone from another country wanting a pair of well-used shoes. I just think there are some undertones there that aren't completely culturally sensitive, as well-intentioned as they may be. Personally, I would have preferred seeing the original girl finding something else that made her feel special and the shoes being passed down to sibling or cousin that had been long admiring the shoes.

Overall, it's still a sweet book with clear positive intentions. I just think that the second half of the book wasn't as well thought out as it could have been. ( )

Malika admires a pair of red shoes in a shop window, and her Nana buys them for her. Malika wears the beloved shoes to many occasions - a wedding, Christmas, a birthday party - but eventually they begin to pinch her feet. Nana and Malika take the red shoes to a resale shop ("Softly, softly, Malika says goodbye to her wonderful red shoes. They were her favorite shoes ever"), where Inna Ziya spies them; she brings them with her to Africa as a gift for Amina, "the girl who fasted half the month of Ramadan. The girl who deserves a special gift." Amina delights in her auntie's gift, and allows her younger sister Halima to try them on, "but just for a little while"; when Amina outgrows the shoes, they will be Halima's. "Meanwhile, back on the other side of the ocean," Malika swings on a swing - wearing new blue shoes - and wonders what happened to her her beautiful red shoes. "I wonder if someone is wearing them right now!"

Malika and Amina are both Black; Amina is Muslim. The joy of new (or new-to-you) shoes is universal. ( )