The book, Running Shoes, was an amazing and inspiring reading experience. The illustrations showed the unique Asian countryside, while the story goes on to tell an inspiring story of a young girl named Sophy. At the beginning of the story, Sophy meets a businessman who brings her a present of running shoes. Sophy is thrilled because that means she can finally go to school which is 5 miles away! She gets up before sunrise to make it to school on time and when she faces teasing from her male classmates she just proves them wrong! I loved this story because of the message it portrayed. A person who is determined can conquer any adversity and when you get knocked down you just have to stand up and keep going! Sophy was the perfect character to demonstrate that belief and she left me feeling inspired by her refusal to give up. Another reason I liked this book was because I enjoyed the illustrations of the East Asian country side. The sunrises and sunsets that were illustrated in the book were beautifully constructed with yellows, pinks, and oranges. They also included rice patty farms in the pictures along the path that Sophy ran to school, which helped the reader visualize the distance she was running because it seemed like the farms continued on forever. Overall, I liked this book immensely, and would recommend it to anyone who has an interest in East Asia. ( )

I loved this book so much. I loved how the little girl had so much motivation to learn and go to school no matter what. I thought this book was very inspiring and very motivational to anyone that says they can’t do something.
One thing that I enjoyed about this book was the characters. I loved how the little girl was so motivated to go to school and when she finally could, she would run so far just to go to school. I also enjoyed the mail guy who gave her the shoes. It showed a lot of love to help others rather than just bringing them down.
The second thing that I enjoyed about this book was that illustrations. I loved how you can see her running and how much these shoes meant to her. I also liked that visual of the little girl putting her shoe print in the sand. I think that it is very powerful and moving to see. I also liked how it showed her emotions. For example, when she got to school, it was full of boys and she looked embarrassed but when she learned not to care her face became brighter and happier.
Overall, I believe that the big idea of this story is to chance you dreams no matter what. I think that this story talks to every, rich or poor, to try and reach all of your goals if that’s what you really want to do. I also believe that this book is that kindness last a long way and that we should be kind and giving to everyone. ( )

I read “Running Shoes” by Fredrick Lipp. This book was realistic fiction. I really liked this book because of its main idea of inspiration. The author used characters, plot, and point-of-view to create inspiration.
Characters: Each character had a significant effect on the main character, Sophy, by giving her the inspiration to become a teacher. The first character was the man in the jeep who bought her running schools, which allowed her to run to school. The boys in the school were mean, which inspired her to show them she was better than them.
Plot: The plot of the story creates inspiration because each event in the story leads Sophy to become inspired to become a teacher. The man who buys her shoes inspires her to go school and her classmates inspire her to want to succeed.
Point-of-View: The author chose to tell the story by the point-of-view of Sophy, which allowed me as a reader to want to keep reading to see how her emotions lead her to wanting to inspire students as a teacher, just as the man in the jeep inspired her to go to school and fulfill her dream of reading and writing. ( )

Sophy is from a small village in Cambodia and one day, a man comes to take a census of the village. Once she receives her running shoes from the census man, Sophy realizes that her wish of going to school is more attainable. When she gets to the school, she sees that the classroom is filled with boys and they laugh at her when she says she wants to learn to read and write. When the census man returns, Sophy writes “Thank you for the running shoes. Now I can read and write” in the clay. Sophy then tells the man that one day she wants to help her people build a school and she wants to be the teacher. This story shows that with perseverance, you can accomplish anything and you should never give up on your dreams. ( )

Sophy and her Mom were poor and lived in a village where there was no doctor, hospital or school. Sophy's dad recently passed away and the number's man came around the village to count the people. Sophy liked the running shoes the number's man had on. A month later, Sophy received a package ...it was running shoes. Now Sophy's wish can come true; she wished to go to school but the school was eight kilometers away on a horrible road. Sophy arrived at the all boys school and told the teacher she wanted to learn to read and write. A year later the number's man came around again to count the people, he learned that Sophy only wears her running shoes to school. She took the man by the clay and used a stick to write, " Thank you for the running shoes. Now I can read and write." As a reader, in the beginning when Sophy asks for funning shoes, it just reminded me of any other kid asking for something. When I learned why she wanted them and how bad she wanted to go to school, I was sad and happy all at once. This book would be a good choice to read around Christmas, children want all kinds of things they don't need and there are less fortunate people in the world. I would recommend this book to grades k-3 and the reading level is 3rd grade. ( )