The book has a solid premise, although it reads a lot like The Very Greedy Bee, and has lovely 8.5 by 11 pictures on its 24 pages, but unfortunately the text is all over the place. The story contradicts itself, it is overly wordy, and way to rhymy. Yeah, rhymy isn’t even a word, but if it were, this book, would be a great example. I struggled with the font as well, the lowercase f looks like a capital F, and no matter how many times I read it, I’d get tripped up thinking an interior word was being capitalized. The book says that it is based on the ayat in the Quran that reads, “And do not walk on the earth proudly,” and even has two other ayats listed at the end as inspiration, but really it is a single page and a single character that blurts out the ayats from the Quran that talk about walking on the earth proudly and this world being a test. While the illustrations are fun, it just isn’t enough to make the book a solid read to convey humbleness and gratitude. Children will be lost in the text, confused by the inconsistencies, and disappointed in the super quick resolution.
Mel the millipede lives in a farm next to a well. He has one thousand feet and although he doesn’t need shoes, he likes to collect them. He has 950 and is working to find the remaining 50 to complete his collection.
It says, “No one was as happy as Mel; one could tell.” Then on the next page as he cleans his shoes with a blouse it is revealed that he isn’t happy in his heart because he is always alone. But the picture stills shows him smiling.
He finally has his 1,000 shoes, we don’t know how or where he got them, when a small snail tells him that “God says not to walk on the earth proudly. Only He knows best and this world is a test.” There is no explanation, Mel just says “it doesn’t matter, I am better than everyone.”
This whole time walking, Mel has been wearing his shoes although it has mentioned that he can’t wear them because they are heavy and he doesn’t want to get them dirty. As he watches the other bugs fly kites and balloons he is sad that he can’t play because his shoes are too heavy. But he has been walking outdoors and is on a mushroom lamenting with his shoes on. Those flying kites aren’t moving much…one is a worm, one a snail, very inconsistent.
One night a moth knocks on his door warning Mel of a flood. Mel ignores the frantic urgings, fearing that it is a trap to get his shoes. He thinks everyone is jealous of his shoeing. The flood waters sweep him and his shoes out of the house and throughout the night he risks his life multiple times to save his beloved shoes.
When morning arrives, he is still trying to save his shoes, when moth, attempts to save Mel. To get Mel back to his house, he will have to convince him to drop his shoes. Mel is tired and desperate and uninspired so he drops his shoes and is brought to dry land. I don’t think uninspired is the right word, shouldn’t be be grateful and willing to change to save his life? But even that notion is a stretch because in the illustrations he is so close to land. He could just swim over, shoes or no shoes, moth doesn’t need to be flying him to safety. Additionally, when the water recedes, won’t his shoes still be there?
The conclusion is Mel hugging moth and apologizing to the bugs. I’m not sure what he is apologizing to them for, nor is it explained. Since the book claims to be based or inspired by ayats, I feel like this would have been a good place for a moral cathartic lesson, but alas, it just says, “the end.”
Islamic School Librarian 