Shoeshine Whittaker
 Helen Ketteman, Illustrations by Scott Goto
 (Reviewed by The Editor - Rebecca Brown)
 1999 Walker & Company, NY USA
  ISBN: 0802787142


Mudville is a dream come true for Shoeshine Whittaker where the streets were muddy, the wooden sidewalks were cruddy, the houses were dusty & the people's shoes were crusty.

An ideal place for a traveling shoeshiner right? In the beginning, yes! It's when the folks of Mudville take Shoeshine Whittaker's blithe guarantee seriously that the trouble begins. A muddy mob isn't a pretty sight!

Then Shoeshine Whittaker has a choice to make & once it's made - boy, does he have work cleaning up a dirty Western town like no sheriff ever did!

Scott Goto's illustrations caught my eye on this book. I enjoy this artist's engaging, in-your-face perspective. Can't say I agree with Shoeshine Whittaker's solution to his problem, still, it's a funny teaching lesson about keeping one's word, being taken literally, doing your job well & earning a righteous living.

More from Helen Ketteman: The Year of No More Corn, Heat Wave & 11 other children's book.
More books illustrated by Scott Goto: Shooting Star: Annie Oakley, the Legend
(12/10/00)

Rebecca