New Shoes

This winner of multiple awards tells the story of Ella Mae, a 7-year-old Black girl in the rural South in 1950.  When she goes to buy her first pair of new shoes, she is passed over as numerous White customers are helped; She will not be permitted to try on any shoes.  She and her friends then start a business refurbishing old shoes and selling them in the African American community, letting customers try on as many pairs of shoes as they'd like.

Author: Susan Lynn Meyer

Publisher: Holiday House; Reprint edition (January 30, 2016)

ages 6-9