Banks. Peter and the Talking Shoes

Peter and the Talking Shoes is a children's book by Kate Banks, with art by Marc Rosenthal, published in 1994. It is available at the Internet Archive.

What a delightful book! Peter gets new shoes and his father gives him money to go buy a loaf of bread. The baker says he needs a feather to bake bread as light as a feather, so Peter goes to look for a feather. The shoes tell him where to go: the farmer's rooster (they once belonged to the son of a farmer). The farmer needs buttons to hold up his pants. The shoes send him to the tailor (they belonged to the son of a tailor). The tailor needs a nail to fix his roof. The shoes send him to the carpenter, who needs a key to get in the door of the house. Then: locksmith, who wants his keys to jingle a tune. And Peter knows what to do because he is the son of a musician! The keys sing, and so we go on back through the chain, until Peter goes home with his loaf of bread. His father says the shoes must be slow, but Peter replies: "They sure are smart."

Look at how cute the shoes are: the shoelaces make the eyes!