Secret Agent Man Goes Shopping for Shoes [Hardcover]

A charismatic young boy turns an everyday outing into a thrilling, top-secret adventure in this energetic, offbeat picture book.

Secret Agent Man (S.A.M.) needs new shoes. His mom — er, sidekick, “K” (short for Kay) — takes him shopping. But the operation will be dangerous: to start with, Shoe Store Man looks shifty. “Frisk him,” says S.A.M. With the help of a Team of Expert Spies and keen observation skills, will Sam find that his brand-new tiger-striped shoes convey a new superpower . . . and that he can now tie his own shoelaces? Imaginative play is the mission in this witty picture book with retro illustrations that cleverly merge S.A.M.’s escapades with the ordinary world. Roar!Wynne-Jones (the Zoom trilogy) creates some lovely, offhanded rapport between mother and son (“We are matching tigers,” says S.A.M. “Roar,” says K.)...[Won's] digital images, which combine the look of 1960s animation with a variety of compositional styles, handily capture both everyday sights (a shoe salesman carrying an improbable number of shoeboxes) and the drenched-in-shadows menace of imagined international intrigue.
—Publishers Weekly

Text and art find their comedic stride when S.A.M. looks for K. in the Holding Cell of Despair (the toilet) and the Rocket Silo (broom closet)...Energetic compositions and appealing artwork bolster this spy-friendly text.
—Kirkus Reviews

The snappy language and playful atmosphere are very entertaining, especially when K plays along with S.A.M.’s game and when S.A.M.’s new tiger-striped shoes help him come to the rescue when K disappears after a boom of thunder (she’s outside collecting the laundry before a rainstorm). This spirited story captures the enthusiasm of make-believe games, not to mention the appeal of brand-new sneakers.
—Booklist

The rather irksome task of shoe shopping gets the golden Bonlc.