African Americans Ella Mae and her cousin Charlotte need back-to-school shoes. At the shoe store, the whites are served first, even though Ella Mae and her mama are already there. Now Mama must make a paper tracing of her daughter's feet and buy the shoes without trying them on first to see if they fit. The girls understand that this is unfair, and they find a way to fight back. They scrub floors, pick beans, and mind babies, asking for payment in outgrown shoes. After polishing up the used footwear, they open for business in the barn. Naturally, at their store, patrons are allowed to try on the shoes first! In a happy conclusion to an unfair situation, the girls triumph by fighting back against injustice. An author's note at the end explains the unjust Jim Crow laws supporting segregation that permeated America until the mid-1960s. The use of angled light and rich colors highlight each detailed page; pastel dresses shine, red Mary Janes gleam, and the individual faces glow in pictures done in oils on watercolor paper.

After Ella Mae isn't allowed to try on shoes in Johnson's store because she is black, she and her cousin Charlotte gather others' outgrown shoes and open their own resale store, where "anyone who walks in the door can try on all the shoes they want." Velasquez's dramatic paintings capably illustrate this touching, inspiring historical-fiction picture book. An author's note adds context.

Gr 1-3 Ella Mae usually gets her new school shoes as hand-me-downs from her older cousin, Charlotte. One day, Charlotte's old shoes are too tight for Ella Mae and so the girl gets to buy a brand new pair of shoes. At Johnson's General Store, however, Ella Mae is treated differently from another customer with "yellow pigtails." The treatment is because of the color of her skin: she is served second even though she arrived first, and she is not allowed to try on any of the beautiful new shoes. With a little brainstorming and some hard work, Ella Mae and Charlotte come up with a plan to allow everyone to try on shoes before they buy them. The illustrations paint an accurate historical picture of the 1950s and do well enough to bring out the characters' emotions, which may not otherwise be noticed in the text. An author's note at the end explains Jim Crow, the civil rights movement, and the evolution of language used to describe African Americans. The use of a lesser-known Jim Crow situation makes it stand out from other titles dedicated to this topic, but the message is very similar. VERDICT A decent introduction to the history of segregation in the U.S. Brittany Staszak, St. Charles Public Library, IL