GRANDMA’S TREASURED SHOES
Author: Coral Vass Illustrator: Christina Huynh
Publisher: NLA Publishing
Grandma has oodles and oodles of shoes!
Walking shoes, dancing shoes, fancy and plain shoes.
Grandma has a shoe for every occasion. So why are these scratched and dusty old ones so special?
Through read-along, rhythmic text and colourful images of all types of shoes, we follow Grandma from her home country, wearing her ‘roaming shoes and weary shoes’, on a boat with her ‘salty but free shoes’ and into her new life where she wears ‘tiny shoes, school shoes, red shoes and blue shoes’. Yet her memories remain with the ‘scratched and scuffed shoes’ in the cupboard — the ‘weary little pair that led her here’.
This story of migrating to a new life is told gently through the delightful, vibrant illustrations and the theme of shoes that dance their way through this wonderful book. The story of refugees in Australia is told in a non-fiction section at the back of the book, looking at the mass arrival of Vietnamese by boat in the 1970s as an example. This sensitively told story encourages children to understand the plight felt by refugees, in the past and today, and to appreciate the contribution that refugees have made in shaping this nation.
ABOUT THE ARTISTS:
Author, Coral Vass, is an award-winning Australian Children’s Author with several books published with Scholastic Books Australia, National Library of Australia and Penguin Random House Australia.
With a background in media, Coral has always had a passion for telling stories and inspiring children with a love for literature. She dabbled in script writing, radio drama and video production, before working a decade in marketing and publications.
Born in Sydney Australia, Coral spent her early years in Bangladesh. She has also lived in Queensland, Japan and currently resides by the beach in Melbourne, Victoria with her husband and four children.
Her signature writing style has a splash of rhythm, a dash of rhyme and is stirred with fun! As well as children's books, Coral loves dark chocolate, good coffee, the theatre and the beach.
https://www.coralvass.com/
Illustrator, Christina Huynh, is an artist based in Western Sydney. Shepaints under the artist name 'Styna'. Her work is inspired by travels to faraway places, storytelling and heritage. From using traditional mediums of watercolour, ink and pen to aerosol and acrylic, her art practice explores creating murals, illustration, typography and book making.
Upon completing her studies in a Bachelor of Design (Visual Communication) at the University of Western Sydney in 2011, Christina began working in 2012 and has since created work for the National Library of Australia, Westfield - Scentre Group, Mark Gardner, Nude by Nature, Biopak, Stockland…and LOST IN BOOKS!