Petrushka's patent leather shoes

Petruschka's patent leather shoes is a children's book published by Danish artist Vita Andersen in 1984 .

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It is Petrushka's birthday, she is five years old. At three in the morning she looks for her presents and finally gets them from her mother so early, although her father and younger sister Marie are still asleep. The gifts also include black patent leather shoes. She wanted pink shoes, and they're too big. She should wait six months until the shoes fit her. After Petrushka first checks every day to see whether they fit, her mother enters the day in six months when Petrushka's feet should be big enough.

In the meantime, the parents and their children experience the scenes of normal madness. Petrushka lays the vacuum cleaner pipe on bookshelves and tries to be an artist. With the resulting chaos, the father is overwhelmed, while the mother is more likely to empathize with her daughters.

She can also settle the dispute when after six months Petrushka finally fits the shoes and Marie also insists on them. The various quarrels and jealousies end with broken windows, injured passers-by and the destruction of shoes. Not even a visit to the circus is possible without the daughters quarreling.

After all, the only thing left for the mother to do is to buy a wide variety of patent leather shoes. For this, however, the entire household money goes on and the family has to be content with chocolate frogs. In view of this, the father can only laugh and say that he is the only normal person in the family.

Award

The book was on the shortlist of the German Literature Prize in 1993 .

Age recommendation

The publisher recommends the book for children aged six and over. In her review for the Young Library of the Süddeutsche Zeitung, Amelie Fried thought it was suitable for reading aloud from five.