There's a Goldfish in My Shoe! by Valerie Sherrard

Anna and I both had mixed feeling about There's a Goldfish in My Shoe!, written by Valerie Sherrard and illustrated by David Jardine.

The book is about a boy who gets into trouble for doing the things his mom tells him to do.  The problem is he takes his mom's words literally instead of looking for the meaning of them.  His mom uses some pretty normal sayings, such as "hold your tongue" and "keep your eye on" something and it gets you thinking about all the things we say that we don't really mean.

The concept of the story really is quite funny. Who would think that a kid would get in trouble for doing as he's told?  Also, some of the things that he does are hilarious.

This book can lead to some great discussions about learning to say what you mean and also to be careful to look for the meaning of what people say instead of just taking what they say literally.  It can also lead to a study of sayings and their meanings.

While many people may like the outrageous illustrations, and Anna and I did get a kick out of some parts of them, they were a little too outlandish for our liking.  Anna actually found some of them a little scary.

I can't seem to wrap my head around how the book became titled what it did.  There is a place in the story where a goldfish does end up in the boy's shoe but it's one small insignificant part of the story.  I'd love to know the reasoning behind it being titled as it is.

If you should decide to read There's a Goldfish in My Shoe! I'd love to hear your thoughts on it.

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