THE SHOE BIRD

"Shoes are for the birds!" yelled a little boy defiantly when he finally succeeded in getting his mother and sister out of The Friendly Shoe Store. Arturo, the parrot who lived in the store, took the comment literally, and since his motto was "If you hear it, tell it," he immediately told the Goose who had the Carrier igeon spread an invitation to all the birds to an Open House at the Shoe Store. Representatives of all the species came to the meeting to receive their prize pairs of shoes, which Arturo brought down to size by putting up the "Final Reduction" sign. While each one selected the most appropriate style, the shoe situation was discussed at length, each bird contributing his own bit of wisdom, until at last they all flew away leaving the shoes behind. Practically no action occurs during the lengthy discussion, which consists almost entirely of a stream of witticisms, many of which are irrelevant. The birds frequently refer to the dictionary—a sign that perhaps the purpose of this book is to encourage a facility with language. But the overly wordy result is so obscure that readers are likely to want to leave dictionaries as well as shoes to the birds. This is Miss Welty's first book for children.