Milli could take a thing that was a nothing and turn it into a something. She could find any old forgotten this or that, give it a bit of a wiggle, and transform it into something amazing. But no one in her town valued what Milli could do, and she was far too shy to insist. No one ever wanted anything special. So Milli spent her time making brown shoes, black shoes and plain old work boots.But then comes the day two vagabonds roll into town - crazy Jack and his dancing cat. Sturdy new boots are exactly what they need, but what can they give Milli in exchange? Dancing lessons! So they teach her jazz and ballet and tap. They do the two-step, the three-step and the tricky-twisting-backward-slide-four-step. And Milli begins to feel brave and free. So she makes them the most beautiful shoes she can imagine. She rustles up a few amazing things for herself, too. And eventually even the townspeople have to take notice.

 

This book was recognised in the Book of the Year - Picture Book category by the Children's Book Council of Australia Awards. It was recognised by the Australia and Nz Illustration Award.

There are 32 pages in this book. This is a picture book. A picture book uses pictures and text to tell the story. The number of words varies from zero ('wordless') to around 1k over 32 pages. Picture books are typically aimed at young readers (age 3-6) but can also be aimed at older children (7+). This book was published 2005 by Allen & Unwin .

Anna Fienberg is the author of many popular and award-winning books for children of all ages. Stephen Michael King is a very well respected and popular illustrator, who has created Figaro and Rumba just as Anna imagined them.