Pete the Cat Rocking in My School Shoes

By Eric Litwin

Illustrated by James Dean

Scholastic Inc. New York, 2011

40 pages

Picture book

 

                                I chose this book because I really enjoyed reading Pete the Cat and His Four Groovy Buttons which was the first of the Pete the Cat books I have read. I really like the way the author makes his character's attitude so calm and cool in each story. In this story Pete is starting school with his new school shoes on. Every thing that happens to Pete throughout the day is "all good" because he gets to do these things while wearing his school shoes. He makes up songs through out the story about himself doing various things at school while rocking in his school shoes. At the end of the day when his mother asks him what he did at school Pete replies "I was rocking in my school shoes and I will do it again tomorrow"! Each page gives clues to a place where Pete is and asks at the end of the text "Where is Pete ?" and answers where he is when the reader turns the page.

                             This book is illustrated with water colors. James Dean always uses bright colors to make his illustrations really stand out. Pete's rocking school shoes are painted in a bright red making them especially stand out as well as his guitar.  Dean also uses a lot of calm background colors such as blues and greens to make other illustrations on the page stand out that much more.

                             

This book could be used with the younger grades when talking about different places in the school building. The students could color four pictures of places that Pete went in the school building on a four square chart made by the teacher. The students could then write one word below their picture to describe it. This book is also a good example for student to keep their cool throughout their day at school! This book has no awards.