The Bootmaker and the Elves (Orchard Paperbacks) - Softcover

Kindergarten-Grade 2. "The Shoemaker and the Elves," retold in the colorful language of the Old West. A poor bootmaker is down on his luck and down to his last scraps of leather. After a night of worrying, he is "hornswoggled" to find a finished pair of fancy boots on his workbench. A rich rancher comes along and pays for them with a wad of money "big enough to choke a cow," allowing the bootmaker to buy more leather. Each day, more magical boots appear, and more "rootin' tootin'" cowboys and rodeo queens show up to get shod. Finally, the man and his wife stay up late enough to spy on their midnight helpers. They then hatch the expected plan to reward the elves with tiny blue jeans, Western shirts, cowboy hats, and, of course, itty-bitty boots. The delighted elves scoot away into the sunrise, but by now the bootmaker has plenty of ideas for deluxe footwear and can manage without the little people. Lowell's language is filled with whoopee-ki-yi-yays and the like: "skinny as a snake on stilts"; happy as a "dog with two tails." The similes and metaphors never let up, and Curry's pictures extend the jolly mood. Though dark in hue, they have a much lighter tone than his work for Jim Latimer's Snail and Buffalo (Orchard, 1995).?Ruth Semrau, formerly at Lovejoy School, Allen, TX
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

A bootmaker ``so poor even his shadow had holes in it'' wakes one morning to find his last piece of leather made into a pair of eye-popping, shiny new cowboy boots, bright with stars and roses. Sound familiar? Yep, it's a pair of tiny elves, and when the grateful bootmaker and his wife give them new duds to replace their patched overalls, they dance out the door, singing, ``Whoopee-ki-yi-yay, it's time to play! Yo-e-lay-eee-ooo, happy trails to you!'' As she did for Little Red Cowboy Hat (p. 302), Lowell gives the folktale a true Western spin, much abetted by the inventive Curry: Together they describe and depict each unique set of footwear in lovingly explicit detail. Like the elves, this retelling will leave readers ``just as pleased as a dog with two tails.'' (Picture book/folklore. 7-9) -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.