Shoeshine Girl
Title: Shoeshine Girl
Author: Clyde Robert Bulla
Pages: 84
Grade Level: 3&4
Lexile Range: 530L
Sarah Ida was being exiled to her Aunt Claudia’s house for the summer. She had been making some bad choice. She was hanging out with bad friends, so her parents decided she needed a change of scenery. They sent her to live with Aunt Claudia who lived in a very small town. Her parents decided that she needs to learn the value of money, so she’s not going to have an allowance. If she wants to have pocket money, she needs to earn it.
Sarah Ida walks into the small town to find a job. Every job that she tries, the owners tell her she needs to be older before she can work at their stores. Finally someone tells her to try Al the Shoeshine Man. She decides that this would be the perfect job. Surely Aunt Claudia wouldn’t want her niece to be shining shoes! She tells Aunt Claudia about her new job, but Aunt Claudia is okay with her working at the shoeshine booth.
On her first day of work, she realizes how hard work this job will be. But she’s determined to stick it out. Slowly Sarah Ida grows accustom to her work. She strikes up an unlikely friendship with Al. Al regales her with stories of his boyhood. Sarah Ida starts to identify with Al and his stories.
One day Al was running to the store to buy some black shoe polish while Sarah Ida was with a customer. On his way back, he accidentally ran out in front of a car and was badly injured. Just as he was being transported to the ambulance, he managed to slip Sarah Ida his key. The rest of the story follows Sarah Ida as she makes the brave decision to run Al’s shoe shine place. Follow her as she makes courageous decisions that help her mature and grow.
A sweet tale of turning bad choices into good choice. She learns to empathize with people other than yourself. While the book doesn’t have an overt Christian theme, it’s truly a tale of learning to care for the people around you. A great story time book if you’re looking to inspire children to serve their community.
