MOLLY AND THE LOST DANCE SHOES

A young dancer searches for her misplaced ballet slippers in this picture-book sequel about messes and memories.

Molly Butter has been looking forward to her dance recital party for weeks, so she worries when she can’t find her new, red dance shoes. When Molly asks her mom about them, she responds: “Are you sure you put them in the shoe closet when you took them off?” To evade a lecture, Molly wanders from room to room with her dog, Oscar, never finding her shoes but discovering other objects she’s left lying about: a sparkly sock under the couch, a book on the kitchen floor, and empty juice glasses in the basement. Perko’s busy digital illustrations amplify the mess beyond the text, showing a dripping juice cup, a half-eaten pizza, and an open cookie tin. Although Molly finally locates her shoes and pledges to always put them away in the closet, young readers may wonder why she left so many other things lying around that still need to be cleaned up. Dee’s narrative mentions Molly picking up items from her previous adventures as she looks for her shoes, finding things she or her brother, Billy, have been looking for along the way. But the message isn’t heavy-handed, and Molly ends up with plenty of clutter in the images. Fans of Billy Makes Cookies (2021), the first series installment featuring the brown-skinned, black-haired family, will be happy to see Billy return.

A strong tale about lost shoes that’s sure to spark a bit of spring cleaning.