Witness the devastating impact of poverty through the eyes of 12-year-old Will, and what it means to make an impossible choice, with Tom Percival’s powerful novel, The Wrong Shoes.
The Wrong Shoes explores numerous themes, all with a level of authenticity: poverty, bullying, peer pressure and the endless battle to fit in.
This book, alongside the activities suggested in the included PDF, can provide opportunities for conversations to take place in classrooms that will help to reduce the levels of shame and embarrassment around poverty that many children feel.
As author Tom Percival says in his notes at the end of the book, one thing is absolutely certain – it is never the child’s fault.
What is The Wrong Shoes about?
The Wrong Shoes is a book that has, rightly, been nominated for several awards, as well as being on the 2025 Read for Empathy list.
It’s about Will, a young boy who lives with his father after his parents have separated. His father lost his job due to an accident at work and life is increasingly tough for them both.
Despite Dad’s endless optimism, an act he puts on mostly for the benefit of Will, there’s barely enough money available for food and certainly not enough for the ‘extras’ such as haircuts and trainers.
Will struggles on at school as best he can, but feels as if his life is gradually spiraling out of control. When he falls out with his best friend, Cameron, and a gang of older pupils bullies him, it all becomes too much for him.
He doesn’t know whom to turn to for help and support, and has to make some difficult, almost impossible, choices.
Jon Biddle is an experienced primary school teacher and English lead. Winner of the 2018 Reading for Pleasure Experienced Teacher of the Year award, he coordinates the national Patron of Reading initiative.
