Those Shoes by Maribeth Boelts and illustrated by Noah Z. Jones

Hey, here's another book about a poor kid.  Jeremy has a tattered pair of shoes and he used to be the fastest runner.  Now all the kids have these awesome black high-tops with two white stripes and they are all the rage on the playground.  When Jeremy's shoes finally fall apart, the school counselor gives him a pair of velcro buckle shoes with a cartoon character no one's ever heard of.  He tells his grandma that he really really wants the shoes but his grandma says they can only buy things they need, not what they just want.  Jeremy and grandma see the shoes at a thrift store and even though the shoes are too small, they buy them anyway.  In the meantime grandma buys him some necessary black snow boots.  Of course Jeremy wishes his toes would just fall off so he can wear the shoes, but that doesn't happen so he continues to wear the counselor shoes as before.  One day he notices that Antonio, another poor kid, has bad shoes and Jeremy decides to surprise his friend with the shoes.  Isn't that a super sweet story?

 

Giant Meatball by Robert Weinstock

Here is one seriously silly book!  Imagine, if you will, a gigantic pink meatball with tiny arms and legs.  The Giant Meatball is a big boor, he bounces his way around town and irritates all the citizens.  Eventually they eat him.  Ha ha ha! 

 

Blue Goose by Nancy Tafuri

Holy colors, Batman!  This is a very nice story about a bunch of farm birds who decide to paint Farmer Gray's barnyard while he is away.  There is the title character, a Blue Goose, also a Red Hen, a Yellow Chick and a White Duck.  Each animal has a pail of paint that is their own color.  White Duck paints the fence white, Yellow Chick paints the flowers yellow and soon the birds are mixing colors.  Blue Goose and Red Hen pour their paints together and paint the door purple, etc.