Review Detail

Loops

Kids Fiction 132

Important lesson about perseverance

May 07, 2026 (Updated: June 03, 2026)

Overall rating

4.5

Plot

4.0

Characters

4.0

Writing Style

5.0

Illustrations/Photos (if applicable)

5.0

A little boy has brand new, big kid shoes, but they keep coming off. He needs to tie them tight, but struggles a bit. Still, he’s excited about being a big kid, so he keeps practicing. He also thinks about other things that used to be too hard for him, like swinging, that he can do by himself. When his shoe comes off again, he is frustrated, but remembers that he just needs to practice. He likes all of the things that he is able to do as a big kid, like go down a slide or ride on the merry-go-round on the playground, so when he loses his shoe again, he decides to solve the problem with a good attitude, and manages to find his shoe.

Good Points

While the story is very simple, the message is clear: it’s fun to do hard things. This is something I believe in quite strongly, so I am very excited to read this book with my grandson! The little boy doesn’t always find it easy, and his frustration is very clear. Still, it is balanced against the fun things that he can do, even if those things took a long time to master. This is such a necessary message; I am half tempted to read it to my 7th and 8th graders!

The illustration style reminded me a bit of Taro Gomi, since there are a lot of solid color shapes without pencil lines set against clean backgrounds, and the little boy’s expressive face is also composed of simple shapes.. The bright red shoes are a nice touch. The merry-go-round looks like the ones I loved in the 1970s, so might be a little anachronistic (and unsafe!), but are definitely recognizable.

This is a great book for toddlers as well as early elementary school students, and offers a great lesson in diligence and perseverance. Add this to a motivation library that includes Singh and Kaur’s Fauja Singh Keeps Going: The True Story of the Oldest Person to Ever Run a Marathon, Leonard’s Gobi: A Little Dog with a Big Heart, and Uegaki and Leng’s Hana Hashimoto, Sixth Violin as well as the classic favorite, Watty Piper’s 1930 The Little Engine That Could.