Here’s my selection for Perfect Picture Book Friday:
The Sock Thief
Author Ana Crespo
Illustrator Nana Gonzalez
Albert Whitman & Company, 2015
Fiction
Suitable for: Ages 4-7
Theme/Topic: Resourcefulness, Soccer/Futebol, Portuguese, Brazil
Opening Spread: In a small Brazilian town, Felipe leaves home earlier than usual. He walks a long way to school.
Brief Synopsis: From author’s website: Felipe doesn’t have a soccer ball. So, when it’s his turn to take one to school, he uses a little bit of creativity…and a few socks. Felipe is the sock thief, but finding socks is not that easy and the neighborhood pets make it even harder. “Au, au, au!” a dog barks in Portuguese. Along the way, Felipe leaves delicious mangoes in exchange for the socks he steals. After he swipes each pair, he twists and turns them into an ever-growing soccer ball.
Resources: Instructions on How to make a Sock Ball. Go out and play soccer with your own sock ball. Read the Author’s Note and share a story from your own childhood. A Portuguese glossary is included. Please check Ana’s website as more resources may be added.
Why I Like This Book: I like that Felipe is a bit naughty in his efforts to make a soccer ball. Of course, this sock thief leaves mangoes and even returns the socks. You’ll see at the end, the sock owners know what’s happening to their socks too.
I know Ana through SCBWI. She’s super talented and nice. And, I get to hang out with her and several ladies at a weekly critique meeting. The book has a March 2015 publication date, but I pre-ordered her book (that’s what writers do, right?) and it magically arrived this week. If your library doesn’t have it yet, be sure to put in a request. I did that with our local library.
Ana is giving away several copies of The Sock Thief on Goodreads. Check out the giveaway.
For more PPBF books, visit Susanna Leonard Hill’s Blog.
Julie Rowan-Zoch
What a neat way to meet the neighborhood dogs. Heehee! Hope the library has this on order already, but I’ll make sure they do. And congratulations to Ana!
stacy
Oh, you made me giggle Julie. Thanks for making sure your library gets a copy!
Cathy Ballou Mealey
Nice! Fun story and it will be great for storytime. Bring in all those single socks and the kids can practice making their own sock balls! Congrats Ana!
stacy
Ah, now that’s a fun activity Cathy! Great thinking.
Mike Allegra
When I first read the title I thought the story was going to be about a mischievous clothes dryer.
This book looks adorable!
Jenner
Haha, Mike! So did I!
stacy
Not this time Mike, sooo you need to write the clothes dryer book!
Jilanne Hoffmann
I, too, was expecting a story about the dryer. Mike, it’s time for you to write it. 😀
Heather Dent
Oh this looks awesome! I love soccer and I love learning bits and pieces of new languages so this sounds like my kind of book.
stacy
Hope you enjoy it Heather. I also enjoy books with a different language sprinkled throughout the story.
Clara Bowman-Jahn
I like that the main character is naughty, too. Seems like a valuable way to a kid’s heart. I am goiing to make sure it is on order in my library as well.
Congrat’s Ana! 🙂
stacy
Thanks for requesting this one Clara. I hope you enjoy it.
Lori Ann Levy-Holm
I dig a little naughty!!! Sweet book. I thought it was the dryer eating them all this time. Who would have known?!
stacy
No. It’s Felipe getting them to make a ball!
Patricia Tilton
Very creative way to make soccer ball especially in Brazil where soccer is so important. Sounds like such a sweet but entertaining book.
stacy
It is sweet and entertaining.
Wendy Greenley
This looks adorable! Especially when the “naughty” is actually endorsed. Congratulations to Ana!
stacy
True. The endorsement helps. After I wrote this, I thought more about the community aspect of the endeavor.
Susanna Leonard Hill
This book looks terrific, Stacy, and how cool that you know Ana! 🙂 I will have to get this on my TBR list straight-away! Thanks so much for the publication heads-up and for adding this fun book to our list! 🙂
stacy
Ana is very nice and it is cool to know her! 🙂 I hope you enjoy the book.
Catherine Johnson
What a great story! A bit of cheekiness, gumption, imagination and generosity with the mangoes. I’d rather have a mango than a sock but you can’t wear a mango on your foot 😉
Jilanne Hoffmann
What a great book! This would be perfect to pair with the One World Play Project, the folks who have already distributed over a million balls worldwide. Check it out: http://www.oneworldplayproject.com/power-of-play/our-story/
stacy
That looks like a great program. Thanks for sharing it Jilanne.
Joanne Sher
This one looks FABULOUS – love the Portuguese angle and the ready-made activity! Thanks, Stacy!
stacy
I love books with a little language lesson.
rhythm
This one looks fun on a whole lot of levels!! I need to learn how to make one of those sock balls!!! I’m going to be sniffing this one out! Thanks Ms Jensen!!!
stacy
Hope you can sniff out a copy Rhythm!
Joanna
I love this. How often have I seen homemade footballs in developing nations? This is awesome!
stacy
It is awesome. Thanks Joanna.
Ana Crespo
Thank you so much, everyone, for all the positive comments! And thanks, Stacy, for writing such a great post about THE SOCK THIEF. Have a wonderful weekend!
stacy
Thanks for stopping by Ana! Thanks for sharing The Sock Thief with all of us. Have a great weekend.
Rosi Hollinbeck
This sounds super cute. I will definitely check it out. Thanks for telling me about it.
Denise
Yay, Ana! It’s so nice to see this book out as scheduled! Hope for all picture book writers :-). I remember your good news when you met the editor at a Letters & Lines Conference and am so happy for your success. The book sounds wonderful and I can’t wait to see it!
Ana Crespo
Thank you, Denise! It all seems so unreal…sometimes I have to pinch myself. RMC-SCBWI is a huge part of this accomplishment, which means you are too.
Denise
It’s a great organization, for sure, and you are wonderful to share your success with so many. Your talent and persistence made it happen and I’m very grateful to have been a witness!
stacy
You comment about as scheduled made me giggle a bit. We discovered at our SCBWI schmooze on Sunday that those of us with pre-orders likely received ours early since we are Amazon Prime members. 🙂
Denise
Ah, another benefit of being a prime member! I was having a little publishing envy. I looked back and saw the “tentative” pub date for Ana’s first book was Spring 2015 and then it came out in Spring 2015–a near miracle in my experience! A PB of mine acquired in Oct 2013 had a tentative of 2015 which I laughed at and hoped for 2016. It’s officially Spring 2017 :-). But I’m cool with that. I can wait and in the meantime celebrate the publication of books by my pals!
Sue Heavenrich
definitely putting this on my to-read list! Who doesn’t love a story about mischievous kids, missing socks, and mangos – er, I mean soccer.
stacy
It’s a fun one Sue.
Sue Wang
Cute. 3D pictures/illustration too… I like naughty, just a little. 🙂