Book Trailer Premiere: My Kicks: A Sneaker Story by Susan Verde & Katie Kath

Hello, Susan Verde! Welcome to Watch. Connect. Read. Thank you for dropping by to celebrate MY KICKS and finish my sentences. I appreciate your time.

Hi Mr. Schu! I am thrilled to be here to celebrate my new picture book My Kicks and finish your sentences! I have 3 children and have gotten used to having my sentences finished for me so this is awesome! I am a big fan of all you do for books, authors, kids and literature by the way. Just had to throw that in here and say “thank you!”

And I am a BIG fan of yours. Thank you! :) 

I think the book trailer for My Kicks is a sweet and wonderful teaser! It makes me feel both melancholy and full of energy! I hope it does the same for the viewer!

My Kicks tells the story of a boy who grapples with growing up and letting go. As he goes through the history he shares with his favorite sneakers he struggles with the idea of putting them aside to make new memories.

Illustration Credit: Katie Kath

I hope My Kicks makes kids (of all ages) feel like experiences and things old and new have an important place in making us who we are.  I was inspired by my sons’ attachment to their own kicks and how each new pair came with excitement and possibility but letting go of the old pair was not always easy. For me as a mom I have mixed emotions as they grow out of things both material and emotional and the story of My Kicks felt like a way to talk about the difficulty of change but also the opportunity it brings. I also hope this story is a fun exploration of sneakers themselves! Every parent who reads it can probably name a special pair of sneakers they owned as a kid and remember what was happening at that particular point in time reflected in the style of the shoe and I bet so can each kid!

Katie Kath and I didn’t actually get to speak to each other until she had already created much the art for the book.  Without any real back and forth she was able to fully capture the vision I had when I wrote the story.  One of my favorite spreads is the boy skateboarding in front of the NY Public Library. Recently, I took a picture of my son in his kicks doing the same skateboarding move in front of the same library! She brought me back to my childhood growing up in Manhattan. I am a city girl at heart. I was thrilled with the art! Katie included all kinds of detail and surprises that keep the reader engaged on each page.

When you take off the dust jacket, you find a sweet shoe-tying guide! It’s one of the many lovely surprises Katie put in there. So hopefully everyone will take a peek! If you don’t want to take the jacket off both Katie and I have the guides on our websites.

Illustration Credit: Katie Kath 

Mr. Schu, you should have asked me…What are my favorite kicks? Well, I’ll tell you. I have a pair of gold converse high-tops and my son just got me a pair of Adidas that apparently make me a “very cool mom” in the eyes of a 13 yr old! I’ll take it!

Look for My Kicks: A Sneaker Story! on April 11, 2017.