Four Feet, Two Sandals

When relief workers bring used clothing to the refugee camp, everyone scrambles to grab whatever they can. Ten-year-old Lina is thrilled when she finds a sandal that fits her foot perfectly, until she sees that another girl has the matching shoe. But soon Lina and Feroza meet and decide that it is better to share the sandals than for each to wear only one.

As the girls go about their routines -- washing clothes in the river, waiting in long lines for water, and watching for their names to appear on the list to go to America -- the sandals remind them that friendship is what is most important.

Four Feet, Two Sandals was inspired by a refugee girl who asked the authors why there were no books about children like her. With warm colors and sensitive brush strokes, this book portrays the strength, courage, and hope of refugees around the world, whose daily existence is marked by uncertainty and fear.

Author: Karen Lynn Williams, Khadra Mohammed
Publisher: Eerdmans Books for Young Readers
Published: 09/01/2007
Pages: 32
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.05lbs
Size: 9.20h x 12.20w x 0.40d
ISBN: 9780802852960
Audience: Ages 4-8

Accelerated Reader:
Reading Level: 3.2
Point Value: 0.5
Interest Level: Lower Grade
Quiz #/Name: 135150 / Four Feet, Two Sandals


Award: Volunteer State Book Awards - Nominee
Award: Middle East Book Awards - Honorable Mention
Award: Cybils - Finalist
Award: California Young Reader Medal - Nominee


Review Citation(s):
Kirkus Review - Children 08/01/2007 pg. 806
CBA Retailers 09/01/2007 pg. 77
School Library Journal 10/01/2007 pg. 130
Publishers Weekly 10/29/2007 pg. 55
Booklist 09/15/2007 pg. 72
Christian Home & School 12/01/2007 pg. 28
Multicultural Review 03/01/2008 pg. 79

About the Author
Karen Lynn Williams has written several books about the difficult lives of children around the world, including Galimoto (Lothrop, Lee & Shepard), Tap-Tap (Clarion), and Circles of Hope (Eerdmans). Karen has lived in Haiti and Malawi, but now lives in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Khadra Mohammed is the executive director of the Pittsburgh Refugee Center and has worked with refugees in the United States and abroad for more than twenty years. Khadra lives in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Doug Chayka has illustrated several children's books, including Beekeepers by Linda Oatman High and Yanni Rubbish by Shulamith Levey Oppenheim (both Boyds Mills), and The Pink House at the Seashore by Deborah Blumenthal (Clarion). His work has also appeared in various publications, and has been honored by the Society of Illustrators. Doug teaches illustration at the Pratt Institute and lives in Brooklyn, New York. "