Children's Book Review: Pete The Cat - I Love My New Shoes

digitalfirehose (58)in #books • 6 years ago

Source: my phone, a book I bought

One of the things that I am grateful for is that my parents encouraged literacy in me. They were and still are voracious bookworms, and served as excellent models for literacy. To encourage me to read, they bought me a few books to read to get me reading and to keep me reading. To carry on that tradition, I'm doing the same thing for my kids.

When I shop for books, there is something that I look for in children's books: a healthy attitude about life. And if there was ever a book to instill a healthy attitude in kids, I'd say that Pete The Cat, I Love My New Shoes, is one of them. SPOILER ALERT!!! This is a story about a cat who has new white shoes and how he deals with several unfortunate missteps along the way. In the end, the problems with his new white shoes just sort themselves out, so any drama would be much ado about nothing.

That's a pretty simple plot, but it has a rather big message: when misfortune comes your way, you can change your perspective. In other words, instead of trying to change the world, change your mind and see what happens. I notice also that Pete doesn't take it personally, when something unfortunate befell his nice white shoes. He isn't having a bad day. He's finding something good to enjoy in his day, even if something unfortunate happens to his shoes.

I'd say that most human suffering arises when people refuse to accept reality and try to deny it. Pete the Cat doesn't just accept reality, he embraces it, although I must say, he doesn't seem to be paying attention to where he is going.

Pete's story offers an alternative view and solution to the problems we might encounter during a typical day. Instead of being upset about something that happened to us or something that belongs to us, we can just take it in stride (pun intended) and see what happens next.

This is just the first book I've seen featuring Pete The Cat, but if this book is any indication, the rest of the series is about being the change you want to see in the world rather than imposing your will upon the world to change it to your liking.

Sorry, kid. The world is not your oyster. But you do have the power to change the way you think about the world. You do have the power to see what is good in the world and hold that dear. You do have the power to be the change you want to see. And when you make that change, you can watch to see what happens next. That is what I learned from Pete The Cat and I hope my kids do, too.

I can't say too much more about this book. There isn't much of a plot for there is no mystery, no intrigue and no foul play, but there is another really big message carefully hidden within its pages: You can read to change how you think.

Write on.