A PAIR OF RED SNEAKERS

A distinctly Seussian flavor pervades this rollicking rhymed-prose debut. Young Miles saunters into a shoe store and informs the clerk that he wants a pair of red sneakers with some special attributes, namely, “long attachable toes for building tree houses with views of rainbows . . . bouncers for jumping and soaring, with oversized pouncers for safely exploring basketball hoops, rooftops and stars,” as well as with wheels, umbrellas, big erasers, and other options. The illustrator suits action to words in speckled, busy cartoon illustrations, in which Miles is envisioned in the shoes of his dreams, kicking back triumphantly as one attachment after another sprouts from his hightops. When the salesman regretfully tells him that they have the style he’s seeking, but not in red, Miles’s disappointment lasts but a moment, and he sails out of the store in a pair of rocket-assisted blue sandals. Readers will never look at their footwear in quite the same way. (Picture book. 5-7)