'Pete the Cat' Favorite for Missouri Preschoolers

 Nearly 20,000 preschoolers voted for the 2011 Missouri Building Block Picture Book Award, and "Pete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes" by Eric Litwin was the runaway winner with 8,297 votes. Rolling Hills children's services assistant Patti Swartz says the book will become an instant favorite with preschool age children. 

"Poor Pete is just an old blue cat who walks down the street in his new white shoes, singing a song and stepping in all kinds of colorful messes," Swartz says. "Children love to sing along, while answering the question 'Does Pete cry?' with a resounding 'Goodness no!' after he steps in strawberries, blueberries, mud and water. This is such a fun book that helps to teach colors and still delivers a moral along the way. Pete shows us that no matter what happens in life, 'It's all good', so just keep on walking and singing a song."