The Shoe Thief

The Shoe Thief is a realistic and humorous fiction story about a boy recounting a time when there was a shoe thief on his street. The police kept watch and investigated. The boy thought his dog, Catcher, could help find the thief so the police and others followed. Catcher led everyone under the house…where he kept a huge pile of shoes! The story is narrated from the boy’s perspective with dialogue between characters and speech bubbles.

The Shoe Thief is a simple recount story. Critical thinking questions are provided to guide the reader. Illustrations match the text. A visual information guide is provided for teachers to draw students’ attention to the speech bubbles, layout, and design. There is an infographic at the end of the book outlining the parts of a recount including the who, where, when, sequence of events, and conclusion. An activity on drawing their own visual map of a recount is provided for teachers to extend students’ learning.

Readers develop vocabulary such as singular/plural (thief/thieves), homonyms (week/weak), synonyms (someone/somebody), antonyms (new/old), and similes. Opportunities arise to discuss apostrophes to show possession (Mr Higgen’s) and apostrophes within contractions (I’m). Focus on long and short vowel a, suffix ly (loudly), base words (missing), and silent letters (thought).

This title is from the Sails Literacy series. Hook readers and ignite their curiosity - over 850 levelled texts with bright, colourful, sophisticated designs.