{"id":46468,"date":"2026-07-13T21:28:25","date_gmt":"2026-07-14T01:28:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/?p=46468"},"modified":"2026-07-13T21:28:25","modified_gmt":"2026-07-14T01:28:25","slug":"miriam-and-her-dancing-shoes-by-sandy-eisenberg-sasso-illustrated-by-joani-rothenberg","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/?p=46468","title":{"rendered":"Miriam and Her Dancing Shoes, by Sandy Eisenberg Sasso, illustrated by Joani Rothenberg"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Miriam and Her Dancing Shoes<\/em><\/p>\n

by Sandy Eisenberg Sasso
\nillustrated by Joani Rothenberg<\/p>\n

Apples & Honey Press, 2025. 40 pages.
\nReview written April 28, 2026, from a library book.
\nStarred Review<\/p>\n

Miriam and Her Dancing Shoes<\/em> is a delightful expansion on the Bible story of the parting of the Red Sea.<\/p>\n

The paintings that go with the book have rich, beautiful colors. The people are leaving Egypt, but still complaining.<\/p>\n

“ENOUGH COMPLAINING!”
\nMoses held up his hands.<\/p>\n

“TAKE ONLY WHAT YOU CAN AND HURRY!”
\nThere was no time to argue,
\nno time for bread to rise.
\nThe people carried bowls of
\nsticky dough on their shoulders.<\/p>\n

But not Miriam!
\nShe carried a timbrel
\nand her dancing shoes.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I love Moses’s response:<\/p>\n

“Give me strength,”
\nsighed Moses.
\n“We are running for our lives,
\nnot planning a party!”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

But as the people are going through the Sea of Reeds after Moses parts it, they are afraid and begin complaining again. Moses is so far ahead, they can’t even see him. And of course Pharaoh’s army is behind.<\/p>\n

So Miriam shouts for them to follow her.<\/p>\n

FOLLOW MY DANCING SHOES.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And when they slip and slide and get stuck in the mud, she tells them to lift up their feet like they are dancing. She plays her timbrel, and they walk to the rhythm.<\/p>\n

Moses looked back
\nand was amazed.<\/p>\n

The people were following
\nMiriam’s dancing shoes and
\nthe music of her timbrel.<\/p>\n

They were not complaining.
\nThey were not grumbling.
\nThey were singing.
\nThey were dancing!<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Miriam assures him this is the song of freedom, the sound of hope.<\/p>\n

And this whole wonderful story is told with glorious paintings. I’m now thinking of this old story in a completely different way.<\/p>\n

There are nine pages of back matter at the end of this picture book. I had a hard time deciding whether to put the book in nonfiction with some other Bible stories or with the picture books. I ultimately decided on picture books because the story it tells is so wonderful, and I think it will find more readers.<\/p>\n

The back matter includes a wonderful song, written and performed by David Sasso, which you can find at www.davidsasso.com\/freedom-walks-in-dancing-shoes<\/a>. It’s based on the book and uses paintings from the book, and listening to it added to my delight with the whole project.<\/p>\n

There are also a couple of craft projects in the back, including “Make a Freedom Tambourine,” and then notes about the story of the Exodus and the history of traditions that have grown up around Miriam, the sister of Moses.<\/p>\n

You don’t have to be Jewish or Christian to love this story.<\/p>\n

rabbisandysasso.com<\/a>
\napplesandhoneypress.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Buy from Amazon.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Find this review on Sonderbooks<\/a> at: www.sonderbooks.com\/Picture_Books\/miriam_and_her_dancing_shoes.html<\/a><\/p>\n

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.<\/p>\n

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.<\/p>\n

Subscribe<\/a> for more reviews and talk about books.<\/p>\n

Join the conversation: What did you think of this book?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Miriam and Her Dancing Shoes by Sandy Eisenberg Sasso illustrated by Joani Rothenberg Apples & Honey Press, 2025. 40 pages. Review written April 28, 2026, from a library book. Starred Review Miriam and Her Dancing Shoes is a delightful expansion on the Bible story of the parting of the Red Sea. The paintings that go […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32,15,42],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-46468","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-historical","category-picture-book-review","category-starred-review"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46468","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=46468"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46468\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":46692,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46468\/revisions\/46692"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=46468"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=46468"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=46468"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}