Ever Wonder Where Lost Shoes Go? This Book Has the Answer

You have seen them. A single sneaker on the shoulder of a country road. One flip-flop in a parking lot. A lonely boot in a ditch. Every one of them got there somehow, and every one of them belonged to somebody.

Holly Carrington has built a whole world out of that half-second of curiosity. In Lost Soles: Kicking Up Trouble, one of those roadside shoes wakes up.

It starts with a spider. Ten-year-old Weston is riding in the back of his mom's SUV when he swats one with his sneaker, and the wind snatches the shoe right out of his hand. It hits the road, and something runs through it, a jolt the shoes on a nearby farm call The Spark. The sneaker blinks with its eyelets. It discovers breathing. It says its very first word. And at that exact moment, back in the car, Weston feels the same strange tingle run up his arm.

What happens next is a chapter book with real comic timing. The shoe is snatched up by Ferguson, the farm's enthusiastic and not especially bright sheepdog, and dropped in an old barn, where it meets the locals. There's Smith, an immaculate high-top who has never met a speck of dirt he liked. Pippa, a faded pink ballet slipper with an enormous vocabulary. Murph, a horseshoe whose entire personality is fart jokes. And Calico Bootstrap, a cowboy boot who is absolutely certain the newcomer is trouble. When it's time to pick a name, the new shoe proudly suggests Smelly. Smith, very kindly, adjusts it to Smiley, after the lopsided grin in his sole.

Each shoe's personality fits the kind of shoe it is, and that's a big part of the fun. It's also a gentle way into something every child knows: arriving somewhere new, not knowing the rules, and trying to win over someone who has decided they don't like you. Kids will laugh at Murph and Ferguson. They'll recognize themselves in Smiley. And they may, by the end, feel a little sorry for Calico, because his grumpiness turns out to have a reason.

Meanwhile, Weston hasn't given up. He sneaks off on his bike to look for his shoe, his friends cover for him with spectacular incompetence, and his parents see through all of it in under a minute. Back at the farm there's a runaway, an owl, a nighttime search through the corn, and a very small woman in a very small cabin whom Calico is convinced is a witch. She is not a witch. What she actually does to Calico is one of the funniest scenes in the book, and we won't spoil it.

Underneath the jokes, Lost Soles has a real heart, and it's where the book is at its best. The Spark has a tender origin, tied to the farmer and the life he built on that land, and the story handles it with honesty and warmth that young readers can hold. The final chapter is quietly beautiful. Pippa, the ballet slipper, remembers the little girl who loved her and then simply grew, and Smith explains what it means to be outgrown. "The clothes and shoes stay the same size, but the kids... they just keep growing until they're all grown up. It goes by pretty fast." Being outgrown, the shoes decide, is not the same as not being loved. Parents reading aloud should keep the tissues nearby.

That scene is a lovely conversation starter, and so is the rest of the book. Pippa is forever teaching Smiley new words, which turns vocabulary into part of the story; there's even a gentle joke about the difference between sowing and sewing. Teachers will find a handful of great discussion questions waiting in the text. Why is Calico so unkind at first? What does Smith mean when he says "love is messy"? Have you ever outgrown something you cared about?

It's also simply a great next step for kids who are moving from picture books to chapter books. Short chapters, each with a pun for a title, distinct character voices that are a joy to read aloud, and a question that pulls you forward: will Smiley ever find the boy who lost him? The book ends with Smiley making his choice, and with the promise of more adventures to come.

Holly Carrington is a children's author from Kansas City with a journalism degree from Kansas State University, and she has written for local newspapers and magazines. She is also the author of Mom Left Dirty Dishes in the Sink. Her newspaper background shows in the book's quick pacing, and her sense of humor keeps every chapter light on its feet, right up until the moment it lands softly on your heart.

Lost Soles: Kicking Up Trouble by Holly Carrington arrives October 27, 2026, in paperback. Pre-order your copy now.