True Shoes

Novel Connections

Novel Connections

A Standards-Linked Resource for Using True Shoes as

A Teaching Tool on Cyberbullying and Digital Citizenship

“So don’t you see it? In school,” he said, “everyone knows those girls will spread a rumor about anyone. If you say, ‘Hey, this is really warped,’ you’re putting yourself at risk. You could be next.”

“Exactly.”

“But that rumor today, and what happened — this is big time,” Elliot said. “If something like this happens and nobody fights back, then that group has total power, and everyone knows it. Then Parkland is Darkland all the way.”
from True Shoes

Introduction: A dynamic learning resource

A. Connected Choices

Focal Point 1: Pranking the Queen

Author Clip 1

Individual Reading

Connecting Questions

Learning More

         Our Voices
     Focal Point 2: Every1 Knows

B. Connected Selves
     Focal Point 3: Don’t Worry 2 Much
     Focal Point 4: Did You SEE That?

Go to the full (free) resource package

Talking with the Author

Talking about True Shoes

Is this your first book?
No, it’s my 14th! And it’s a sequel to my best-known young-adult novel, The Revealers.

Is True Shoes better than The Revealers?
Well, I believe it’s a strong followup — but once a book is published, it really only matters what readers think. So far, middle schoolers and adults who work with them seem to like True Shoes a lot. Schools in 11 states have already committed to working with the book, and the other day a young reader emailed me to say, “I am COMPLETELY in love with True Shoes.” That was a nice message to get.

Why did you write this book?
I tend to connect my writing process with real kids — and that's what happened here. As I visited middle schools around the country in recent years, to talk with young people who had read The Revealers, in almost every session I got asked if I was writing a sequel. Kids would say, "We have to know what happens to these characters!" For a while, I had to let them down. I said good stories grow from ideas, and I just didn't have a good idea for a sequel. That didn't make anyone happy.

Then something started to happen.