Running Shoes

Children's Literature - Ken Marantz and Sylvia Marantz

Young Sophy lives in a poor Cambodian village. She wants to go to school, but the nearest one is too far for her to walk to over bad roads. When she admires the running shoes of a census taker, he measures her feet and sends her a pair. With these, and her mother's blessing, she is determined to run to school. The boys there do not think girls should be in school, but when she outraces them, they accept her. When the census taker returns, Sophy proudly shows him how she can write a thank you for the shoes. Her ambition is to help build a school in her village and be a teacher. Symbolically, the front endpapers picture a row of bare footprints ending in a sneaker-print. The rear endpapers continue the shoe prints past a small blackboard depicting numbers in chalk. The inspiring narrative in between is told visually in double-page naturalistic paintings that supply us with views of fields, houses in the village, the crude schoolroom, and a bright red jeep. Gaillard's depiction of the boys is particularly effective as they test Sophy's courage. The final scene of the bright sun beyond the mountains leaves us with a sense of her ultimate success. Reviewer: Ken Marantz and Sylvia Marantz

School Library Journal

Gr 2-4- When the "number man," a government census worker, comes to Sophy's village, he notices that she is admiring his running shoes and measures her footprints with a "stick with lots of numbers." A month later, the postal van delivers a pair of shoes for her, allowing her to run eight kilometers to a one-room schoolhouse. The only female student, Sophy gains acceptance among the boys by outrunning them. The next year, when the man returns, she writes her thanks in the sand and tells him that she wants to help her village build a school someday and teach there. Because the plain text mentions only a "hot and sunny" land with long rains and does not use such terms as "kampong" or "phnom" for this small, rural village in the mountains, readers probably will not identify the setting, although Cambodia is listed in the CIP data. The illustrations give general clues like mountains, a river that could be the Mekong, and workers in rice fields. Although detailed and technically beautiful, the realistic paintings often appear stiff in facial expressions, particularly around the eyes. While the idea that a gift of shoes, which young American readers easily take for granted, can change someone's life and perhaps better her village is a noble one, the dry text and art that fails to evoke emotion obscure the message.-Julie R. Ranelli, Queen Anne's County Free Library, Stevensville, MD

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Kirkus Reviews

Sophy and her mother live in an isolated Cambodian village. When the numbers man-the man who counts how many people live in the village-arrives, he realizes that her father has recently died, and noticing how she gazes at his sneakers, he decides to give her a gift: running shoes. He doesn't know it, but now Sophy can go to school, even though it is a long journey from her village, because the shoes will protect her. After her mother gives permission, Sophy takes off-and meets with a group of male students who are not very happy to find a girl in their midst. But the teacher is kind and after a running race proves her prowess, Sophy is accepted. When the numbers man returns the following year, Sophy has learned enough to give him a gift of her own. Straightforward and accessible, this tale provides a memorable picture both of life in Cambodia and of one girl's struggle to obtain an education. Gaillard's realistic illustrations add a quiet, lyrical touch. (Picture book. 5-8)