The Shoe Bird

by Eudora Welty, Beth Krush (Illustrator)

When Arturo the Parrot, whose job it was to help greet people as they came into The Friendly Shoe Store, picked up and repeated a small boy's disgruntled comment, “Shoes are for the birds!,” it certainly changed the course of his life. This is Eudora Welty's only book specifically written for young readers.

Genres: Childrens, Music, Fiction, Audiobook, Animals

88 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1964

About the author

Eudora Alice Welty was an award-winning American author who wrote short stories and novels about the American South. Her book The Optimist's Daughter won the Pulitzer Prize in 1973 and she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, among numerous awards. She was the first living author to have her works published by the Library of America.

Welty was born in Jackson, Mississippi, and lived a significant portion of her life in the city's Belhaven neighborhood, where her home has been preserved. She was educated at the Mississippi State College for Women (now called Mississippi University for Women), the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Columbia Business School. While at Columbia University, where she was the captain of the women's polo team, Welty was a regular at Romany Marie's café in 1930.

During the 1930s, Welty worked as a photographer for the Works Progress Administration, a job that sent her all over the state of Mississippi photographing people from all economic and social classes. Collections of her photographs are One Time, One Place and Photographs.

Welty's true love was literature, not photography, and she soon devoted her energy to writing fiction. Her first short story, "Death of a Traveling Salesman," appeared in 1936. Her work attracted the attention of Katherine Anne Porter, who became a mentor to her and wrote the foreword to Welty's first collection of short stories, A Curtain of Green, in 1941. The book immediately established Welty as one of American literature's leading lights and featured the legendary and oft-anthologized stories "Why I Live at the P.O.," "Petrified Man," and "A Worn Path." Her novel, The Optimist's Daughter, won the Pulitzer Prize in 1973.

In 1992, Welty was awarded the Rea Award for the Short Story for her lifetime contributions to the American short story, and was also a charter member of the Fellowship of Southern Writers, founded in 1987. In her later life, she lived near Belhaven College in Jackson, Mississippi, where, despite her fame, she was still a common sight among the people of her hometown.
Eudora Welty died of pneumonia in Jackson, Mississippi, at the age of 92, and is buried in Greenwood Cemetery in Jackson.

Excerpted and adopted from Wikipedia.

Reviews

[Kathryn]

This is a wonderful audio CD in the tradition of "Peter and the Wolf" only, I think, much more fun! Jim Dale is narrator extraordinaire and the symphony and children's choir are top notch. A fun story with a nice moral of the story, a delightful cast of feathered friends (all trying to wear shoes!) and a great way to introduce youngsters to classical music.

[Lynn Cansler]

Very cute!

[Emily]

Cute -- lots of puns! Maybe a tad dated but still fun for the kids.

[Barbara]

I listened to this in the car. The orchestral music was beautiful although highly derivative of "Peter and the Wolf". Many of the individual characters were represented by the same instruments as Peter and the animals. Jim Dale's voicing was excellent but very much like those he used for his Harry Potter readings. The orchestration and children's choir were wonderful but would have been greatly improved if I had a high quality sound system. All in all though, I was really happy I listened to this audiobook adaptation of the Eudora Welty fable about what's truly important in life.

[Pinky]

Downloaded this from Overdrive at my library on a whim and was pleasantly surprised. Didn't realize this was going to be a musical! Wonderfully old-fashioned morality tale.

[Relyn]

I'll listen to anything narrated by Jim Dale. This one was a hoot. It had me trying to find ways to share it with my students.

[Nancy]

I picked up this children’s chapter book at the William Faulkner House Bookstore in New Orleans. It is a delightful small place filled to the tall ceiling with great finds old and new. The Shoe Bird written by Eudora Welty in 1964 was her only children’s book. It is filled with a unique collection of fanciful talking birds lead by Arturo the parrot who works in the Friendly Shoe Store. Surprise gathering of birds of all kinds overnight in the store leads to hilarity and fun as the birds decide to be fitted with shoes. During the gathering they learn many lessons…well all except the Silly Goose Gloria.

There are a few dated concepts but this would be a great read aloud with many talking points applicable to today’s society. Fun read.

[Monica]

That was fun. I’m looking forward to the Welty House’s discussion about it.

[Evelyn]

A cute story delightfully encourages children to learn as it teaches them to think before they speak and repeat what they’ve heard others say.

[Pamela Anderson-Bartholet]

This is a charming, fun book that combines story with music and narration by the incomparable Jim Dale (who narrated Harry Potter books, The Night Circus, Peter Pan, and many others). The story itself is a lesson in misunderstandings and the importance of language, with the music providing interludes that mostly add to the enjoyment of the story. Jim Dale is the "real" star here...voicing all of the characters (some reminiscent of Harry Potter characters) in ways that surely will engage younger readers. There are times when I wanted the music to stop interrupting the story; however, I found the overall experience to be enjoyable. For any parent who wants to leverage music and dramatic reading to draw children into reading enjoyment, this is a great place to start. Plus, it is not a lengthy audio book (under 1 hour)--and it could easily be broken into sections (taking "breaks" from reading)--so the time commitment is likely good for younger readers.

[Melissa]

To clarify, this review is for "The Shoe Bird, Musical Fable" by Samuel Jones, based on the book "The Shoe Bird" by Eudora Welty, not a review of the actual book which I haven't read. The book did not get high reviews on amazon, but the "The Shoe Bird: A Musical Fable" is fantastic! It is narrated by Jim Dale with music from the Seattle Symphony and singing by the Northwest Boychoir and Girls of Vocalpoint. The narration, of course, was fabulous. How could it be otherwise with Jim Dale as the narrator. I loved the music and choral parts as well. It blended so well together and I think it is a great way for children to get some classical orchestra and choir exposure. My kids loved it! I'm tempted to purchase the audio cd because I think I would listen to it once or twice a year - it's short, just one cd - it would be a great addition to any library.

[Jintana]

นิทานประกอบเพลงและซิมโฟนีสำหรับเด็ก...รึปล่าว? สนุกสนานกับบรรดานกหลากหลายพันธุ์ตั้งแต่นกแก้วตัวต้นเหตุที่เปิดประเด็นรองเท้าสำหรับนกจนเดือดร้อนไปถึงนกฟีนิกซ์ที่ต้องมาให้ข้อคิดและปรัชญาเพื่อให้บรรดานกทั้งหลายหันกลับมามองดูตัวเองและคุณค่าของการเป็นนก

เรื่องราวเกิดขึ้นจากความเข้าใจผิดของเจ้านกแก้วในร้านขายรองเท้าที่ดันไปได้ยินเด็กน้อยที่ไม่พอใจที่ต้องมาซื้อรองเท้ากับแม่แทนที่จะได้อยู่บ้านเล่นเกมส์ไปตามประสา เด็กน้อยคนนั้นเลยแสดงความไม่พอโดยการตะโกนออกมาดัง ๆ ว่า "Shoes are for the birds" เจ้านกแก้วได้ยินก็เลยเกิดความคิดพิสดารเป็นเหตุให้นกทั่วทั้งโลกมารวมตัวกันที่ร้านรองเท้าเพื่อจะได้มีรองเท้าของตัวเอง

คนบรรยายเรื่องเล่าเรื่องได้สนุกสนาน เพลงประกอบเพราะเหมาะสำหรับเด็กและผู้ใหญ่ที่ชอบฟังนิทาน อารมณ์เหมือนได้ดูการ์ตูนเพลง

[Andrea]

This silly little chapter book is cheerful to read and even better to read aloud! The main character is a parrot who repeats everything he hears ("If you hear it, tell it") , and this habit sets events in motion that end up snowballing into a crazy party. Over the course of the night, he learns to think for himself instead of just repeat what he hears, and all the birds learn to value their special gifts. I recommend this book to everyone from 5 to 105... although I feel that some of the word play, and puns might be lost on the youngest audience.

[Carrie Johnson]

We just listened to this again and it is so enjoyable. 😍 I happen to find it yrs ago by looking for audiobooks done by Jim Dale as he is a favorite narrator of ours and found this funny story about birds that has been put to music with the Seattle Symphony. I just love it bc you feel like you are having a symphony experience in your car with a great story to go with. Truly fantastic for anyone who loves both the symphony and birds 🥰

[Christiane]

Quirky, odd and charming! Arturo is a parrot working in a shoe store. His motto is "If you hear it, tell it." so when he hears "Shoes are for the birds!"... soon the shop is full of birds, all waiting for their shoes and chaos erupts! Originally written in 1964 this is (sadly) Welty's only book for children.

[Ham]

The only reason I listened to this was because my two-year-old puled it off the shelf at the library and put it in my bag. Right away I was impressed with the music, and the narrator is one of my favorites. The story was a little tedious but at least it was short. Only one CD! It wasn't as good as Peter and the Wolf, but then who can compete with Prokofiev?

[H. Brown]

"Use your wings, give your best, and remember the love of friends."
"If you hear it, think it over."
"But tonight I've learned you have to be able to change your mind, now and then, on some matters."
"Most things are easy at the last."
"The surprise of my life was when I found myself learning, instead of repeating."
"In my questions lie the answers."

[Mary]

i think this will be a good listen, i'm going to buy it from audible. it features jim dale, and it's sorta like that musical with the instruments you were made to listen to in choir, except it's about birds and Jim dale is the reader...

interested? you bet cha.

[Jessie]

Like Peter and the Wolf, this story tells about the phrase "Shoes are for the Birds." It's narrated by Jim Dale and he does the 14 different bird voices wonderfully. I loved it. The music was great too. Good teaching tool for morals.

[Jessica]

I discovered that there is a musical audio version of this book read by Jim Dale of the Harry Potter audio series. He apparently does voices for all the birds in the book. I thought my kids and I would love to try it out. We'll see.

[Rachel]

Listened to this audiobook with the boys. The story was OK but the music was really, really annoying.

[Carolyn]

I was delighted at the prospect of another Peter and the Wolf. Sadly, the story lacked any substance or character. It's a good thing it was free.

[Patricia Vermillion]

I just love Eudora Welty choice of words.

[Missmath144]

I love the reader, Jim Dale. The music just didn't appeal to me. However, if you are looking for a story set to music, like Peter and the Wolf, this is one you might enjoy.

[Sara]

We loved this one! The kids constantly sing "shoes are for the birds" when getting their shoes on to go out.

[Kathy]

This is a fun short listen that greatly makes me want to revisit the Tiki Room.

[Ady]

This is an adorable musical story that I listened to. It is especially suited to families with smaller children, I think. Shoes are for the birds!

[Teresa]

A beautiful tale told to wonderful music. (I listened to it and the music was way louder than the narrator of the story which was its only downfall.)

[Cathy Houston]

not her best writing

[Karina]

Listened to this with the girls - Becca didn't want to finish listening. Super annoying music. Story was ok.