Sourpuss and Sweetie Pie

This little gem captures the mercurial mood swings of a young child who spends time with her long-suffering but tolerant grandparents, Nanna and Poppy. Narrator Michele Medlin flawlessly portrays the main character's Jekyll-and-Hyde shifts from Sourpuss to Sweetie Pie . . . and back again. Her child's point-of-view narration has a particularly genuine sounding tone; the story humorously allows readers to imagine the grandparents' reactions without actually depicting them. Medlin's dramatization of the "no-o-o-o-o!" sequence (a rising crescendo of childlike raging resistance) is so eerily spot-on that parents, overly familiar with their own version of this scene, may need to turn down the volume, while younger listeners may catch an edifying glimpse of their own reflections in the story. J.C.G. (c) AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine

Starred review from September 15, 2008
This welcome sequel to the Caldecott Medal title The Hello, Goodbye Window
knowingly describes a child's conflicting personalities. “Sometimes I'm Sourpuss,” a multiracial girl admits. “And sometimes I'm Sweetie Pie.” Her grandparents, Poppy and Nanna, accept her dueling dispositions, but when she visits they like to know whom to expect. “Poppy, it's me, Sweetie Pie,” she promises, keeping her alter ego at bay. She does acknowledge her mercurial moods (“Sometimes you can go from Sourpuss to Sweetie Pie so quick,” she admits, in a six-stage Hyde to Jekyll transformation), and her grandparents gently tease her (“Pleasant dreams, girls,” they joke at bedtime). Both the sunny moments and the tantrums will ring true for readers of any age. Raschka (see Peter and the Wolf
, below) devises competing motifs of light daubs and glowering smears, pairing Sweetie Pie's upbeat sky blue, gold, cantaloupe and pink with Sourpuss's grumpy scarlet, mucky green and purple-blue. Sweetie Pie's balletic, floaty postures contrast with Sourpuss's dramatic scowls and defiant stances; the two personas appear virtually side by side for maximum effect. A keeper. All ages.

This little gem captures the mercurial mood swings of a young child who spends time with her long-suffering but tolerant grandparents, Nanna and Poppy. Narrator Michele Medlin flawlessly portrays the main character's Jekyll-and-Hyde shifts from Sourpuss to Sweetie Pie . . . and back again. Her child's point-of-view narration has a particularly genuine sounding tone; the story humorously allows readers to imagine the grandparents' reactions without actually depicting them. Medlin's dramatization of the "no-o-o-o-o!" sequence (a rising crescendo of childlike raging resistance) is so eerily spot-on that parents, overly familiar with their own version of this scene, may need to turn down the volume, while younger listeners may catch an edifying glimpse of their own reflections in the story. J.C.G. (c) AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine