BookSprouting Review: The Radish and the Shoe by Louise Jalbert

The Radish and the Shoe by Louise Jalbert

Reading Level: Ages 5-8

Paperback, 32 pages

Published: January 1991 as The Diverting Tale of the Radish and the Shoe, Re-issued February 2006

Estimated Price: $9.45 USD

The Radish and the Shoe are the best of friends and love living together in their home, a book, which they also share with the elusive letters, who busy themselves all day with making words. The cast of characters of this beautifully illustrated story is as creative as the poetic narrative: after their home is destroyed by a belligerent pair of scissors, the radish and shoe must rebuild their book, little by little, and do so by composing a new story and cooperating with the letters.

I was originally drawn to this story after reading the back flap of the book in which author and illustrator Louise Jalbert describes how she was inspired to pen (and paint) a tale for children. Jalbert had been dissatisfied with the poor selection of literature geared towards kids and believed that authors should be creating stories that give more credit to the power of a child’s imagination. The book’s elegant illustrations reinforce the importance of imagination when reading: artist Jalbert uses abstract watercolor paintings (as well as calligraphy) to tell her story.

5 out of 5 sprouts

BookSprouting's Inspiration

Having been a lover of books for most of my days, I guess it's natural (but perhaps not) that as I grew older I read fewer children's stories and more grown-up books. Attracted to the classics I lost sight of my roots. Having a daughter changed all of that. Reading to her from her infancy, she naturally began to love and devour books on her own. Christmas and other gift-giving occasions couldn't come fast enough to fill her reading pipeline but fortunately mommy used to teach 3rd grade and Estelle had a bookcase full of books. But what surprised me was that a number of books, which will forever remain nameless, lacked the literary quality that I expect to see in a book. Hey, even if it's for an infant, I still expect that it be creative, witty if called for, prosaic when necessary, and just downright well done. Yet to my surprise many works lacked many of these qualities - as if they had been written by a computer program and proofread by a robot. There has to be a better way!

Enter BookSprouting.com. BookSprouting is a result of channeling this realization into a healthy enterprise. Germinated late last year as I attended a partner conference for a software company (completely and totally unrelated), my hope is that we can attract and build a community that creates the best Children's literature available. As a community of lovers of children's books we will read and then vote on works written by members of the community. Top-voted stories will then receive attractive, sizable prizes as well as exposure for publishing. Now live in Beta, we need your help in building this into the community that we all need it to be. By next week the site will have a forum area where you can give us feedback on how to make the site better. I'm also planning on writing my first children's book and posting it in the hopes that it will help motivate others to do the same. The more stories we can get posted, the more quickly we can get quality works in the hands of our kids.

And that, my friends, is what this hoopla is all about. So check us out at http://www.booksprouting.com/ and join up and participate in the community built for us.

Welcome to BookSprouting!

We are happy to announce the launch of BookSprouting.com! BookSprouting is a community dedicated to the positive development of children’s literature where members can share their stories and receive feedback so that their work can develop and grow. Our main goal is to make positive additions to the world of children’s books and we think the community at large has the talent and vision to make that happen. Let us help you on your way to getting published!

In our goal to advance the quality of children’s books, BookSprouting is looking for the next great author! The daunting task of getting a work published often stops a writer in their tracks, letting their terrific idea for a story fall to the wayside. To help prevent this from happening, BookSprouting will be hosting contests in hopes of helping a writer get closer to their dream.

Each competition invites members to submit their best story where it will then be up to the BookSprouting community to vote and decide on their favorite. Our first competition will take place as soon as BookSprouting reaches 3000 members. As the numbers approach that mark, we will post the rules and regulations regarding that competition. The prizes for our first contest will be $1000, an iPod nano, 4 tickets to Disneyland, and a chance to become published!