Mel and His One Thousand Shoes

Mel and His One Thousand Shoes is a picture book for children aged 4 to 9 about a proud millipede who loves his shoes more than anything, and who learns about humility and friendship when a flood comes.

Mel lives on a farm near a well. He has a thousand legs and a collection of 950 shoes, and every day he searches for more. He cleans each one with care and calls himself the richest bug around. But Mel is not happy: his shoes are too fancy for play and too heavy for fun, and he has no friends. When he finally has a thousand shoes, a friendly snail reminds him that Allah says it is not good to be too proud. Mel does not listen. I'm better than everyone, he says.

One stormy night, a moth knocks on his door to warn him of a flood. Mel is sure it is a trick to steal his shoes, and goes back to sleep. He wakes to find water everywhere and almost drowns trying to save his shoes. The moth comes back to help, but Mel must let go of his shoes to reach safety.

Safe at last, Mel hugs the moth and says sorry to the other bugs. He has lost his shoes, but he has found friends. It is written by Somaya Zamoradi and is music-free.

Mel and his shoes

Once upon a time, a millipede called Mel lived on a farm near a well. Millipedes have lots of legs to crawl on, and some, like Mel, have a thousand.

More than anything, Mel loved collecting shoes. He had 950 of them, in every colour and shape, and he needed only 50 more to finish his collection. So every day, Mel went searching for new shoes. Nobody on the farm loved shoes as much as Mel.

After each day of searching, Mel proudly set his shoes out all over his house and cleaned each one with care. "These shoes are all mine," he said. "I'm the richest bug around."

But Mel was not happy. He had no friend to share his adventures with. His shoes were too fancy for playing and too heavy for fun.

Too proud to listen

At last, one day, Mel had a thousand shoes. He put them all on and strutted around. A friendly snail saw him and smiled. "Wow, you look great," said the snail. "But Allah said it's not good to be too proud, and He knows what's best."

Mel was not listening. "I'm better than everyone," he said, with his head held high, and he marched away, huffing and puffing and dragging his feet.

That afternoon, Mel sat on a mushroom and watched the other bugs playing with kites and balloons. None of them had shoes. "I wish I could join them," Mel sighed. But his shoes were too heavy, and he felt lonelier than ever.

The flood

One stormy night, a frightened moth knocked on Mel's door. "There's a flood!" the moth cried.

"I can't leave my thousand shoes!" Mel replied.

"Forget your shoes and save yourself!" shouted the moth.

But Mel did not believe it. "I know it's a trick to steal my shoes," he grumbled. "Everyone is jealous of me. Go away, moth." And he went back to sleep.

In the middle of the night, Mel woke to a loud splashing noise. He rubbed his eyes and saw water everywhere, and his thousand shoes floating all around him. He tried his best to save them, but it was hard. The water was high, and he almost drowned.

In the morning, everyone could see that the farm was covered with water. Mel's shoes were floating everywhere. "My shoes!" cried Mel, trying to grab as many as he could. The moth came to help him and take him to dry ground, but Mel was still holding on to some of his shoes.

"Let go of your shoes," said the moth.

Lost shoes, found friends

Mel was tired and scared, and he did not want to drown. So he let go of every one of his shoes. Safe at last, he was grateful, and he gave the moth a big hug.

"I'm sorry for saying I'm better than all of you because of my shoes," he said.

The other bugs smiled. "Now you have no more shoes, you can play with us."

Mel smiled back, and he felt very happy. He had lost his shoes, but he had found friends.