The Lovely Shoes

Shreve, Susan. (2011). The lovely shoes. New York: Scholastic. Ninth grader Franny Hall becomes painfully conscious of her limp and her left foot once she enters high school. Suddenly, the little-noticed deformity seems as though it's the only thing that matters, and Franny starts limiting herself and shunning any activity that might bring her notice. After a disastrous Valentine's Day Dance at school in which the tissue padding her smaller shoe somehow slips out and ends up the floor while Franny is dancing with her crush, she takes to her bedroom and refuses to come out. She feels betrayed by her mother who has always encouraged her to take risks and to attend the dance. She also feels betrayed by her cousin Eleanor who ends up with the guy she has wanted. After sulking in her room, writing stories, and sending messages to her younger brother, Franny decides to come out. Her stylish mother decides to write to Italian designer Salvatore Ferragamo to see if he can design attractive shoes for Franny. Touched by her humiliating experience at the dance, he agrees, and Franny and her mother fly to Florence, Italy. The trip changes Franny, and she falls in love with the Italian culture and its citizens. When she returns, she has the promise of new shoes from Ferragamo, but more important, she senses the other possibilities that lie ahead if she's only brave enough and determined enough to reach out for them. No longer does she need to behave as the others around her do, but she is free to make her own choices and her own way.

Based in part on the author's own experiences with polio as a child, this story will inspire teens trying to find their own places in the world without giving up too much of themselves. While the changes that occur in Franny seem a bit too quick, based on such a brief sojourn in another country, they are, nevertheless, noteworthy since change often begins when we see ourselves through the eyes of others or can look at ourselves through a mirror clearly.

Favorite Lines:
"High school seemed like a war zone in which a girl like Franny could be in particular danger" (p. 14).

"Just the sound of their cheerful, chattering voices washed a wave of sadness across her afternoon" (p. 123).