Alice’s Shoe

Alice’s Shoe by Julie Thorndyke, illustrated by Jennifer Harrison (MidnightSun Publishing) PB RRP $29.99 ISBN 9781922858139

A country child, Alice ran barefoot. On smooth waxed floorboards, over dusty clay in the yard, through icy water in the creek… she refused to wear shoes. After losing her sight and hearing through illness, Alice slowly made her way back to life and became the first deafblind person in Australia to be educated. Her hated shoe was Alice’s first connection with the world of language as she learnt to sign.

Alice’s Shoe tells the childhood story of Alice Betteridge, who became known as ‘Australia’s Helen Keller’.