Sloth's Shoes

by Jeanne Willis

When Sloth's birthday party is announced, his friends rush to prepare him a birthday feast and stitch him a pair of new birthday shoes, but Sloth is so slow that he doesn't arrive until his next birthday

Genres: Picture Books

28 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 1902

About the author

Jeanne Willis was born in St Albans and trained as an advertising copywriter at Watford College. She worked for various agencies creating press adverts and TV, cinema and radio commercials. She is now a full-time writer and has published over 80 books. Her hobbies include gardening, reading (non-fiction), natural history and collecting caterpillars. Jeanne has also worked on scripts for TV, including POLLY POCKET and THE SLOW NORRIS, and a pilot TV series for DR XARGLE. She lives in North London with her husband and two children.

Reviews

[Jeimy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Loved the illustrations, but my heart broke for the sloth.

[Elaine · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story of "Sloth's Shoes" is a fun book with simple rhyming sentences. It's about his journey making it to his birthday party and his friends waiting for him on the other side, anticipating his arrival. Very good illustrations depicting the character's expressions and actions. The kids enjoyed the story and were able to observe a lot during preschool storytime.

[The Brothers · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's sloth's fifth birthday and he's heading down the tall tree for his party. He is a sloth, however, and by the time he reaches the bottom, all his friends have departed. For he has the right time, the right day, just the wrong year.

Kooky, fun illustrations.

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

My granddaughters and I are in love with sloths. We can watch one at our zoo, I've seen one in the wild in Costa Rica, and there was much about them in a large animal exhibit at our Museum of Nature and Science. They are interesting creatures. I discovered this book at the used bookstore where I work and loved it. Sloth is having a birthday, and all his animals friends prepare for a big party. Unfortunately, sloth arrives a week late. He took a long time climbing down from the treetop. The story is told in rhyme, and in cute pictures of all the other animals in their exciting party preparation. Here is an example of taking one true trait from an animal, and writing an imaginative story that exaggerates what could happen because of it. As for the shoes, here's part of the exciting plans: "We'll bake the cake," barked the Baboons./"We'll handle candles and balloons."/The Bees buzzed and the Potteroos/stitched Sloth a pair of birthday shoes."