Spring for Sophie

January 15, 2017
A little girl uses all her senses to detect the signs of spring.Sophie is a fair-skinned preschooler with a brown pageboy. She lives with her family in a prosperous-looking rural community in what looks like the author's home state, Vermont. Hill's accomplished gouache paintings depict leafless trees, snow-covered ground, and a big, comfortable red house. Fanciful touches, such as a parent bluebird impossibly cuddling a baby in a snow-covered birdhouse, will appeal to children even if they are not strictly accurate. Sophie wants to "know how spring is coming." Her mother tells her to listen for bird song, and one day she hears "the first chirps." Her dad tells her to feel for soft, muddy ground underfoot; it takes a while, but finally she does. Then she watches for the snow to melt and waits "for the air...to smell like earth and rain." Each of these transformations takes its time, Hill varying layouts expertly to control the pace. Six vignettes of Sophie playing in the snow on one spread emphasize the passage of time; one full-bleed double-page spread stops it altogether. Together, words and pictures capture the feeling that spring will never come--and then it comes in a rush, trees leafing out in just the last few pages, when Sophie joyfully catches raindrops on her tongue: "this is what spring tastes like!" Rural and suburban readers in northern climes will find much to recognize. (Picture book. 4-7)

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March 1, 2017

PreS-Gr 1-"When will spring be here?" Sophie asks. "The first way to tell if spring is coming is to listen for it," her mother replies. So Sophie listens. Werber's simple, lyrical text reflects the comfort and creeping pace of winter. As she waits for spring, Sophie uses each of her five senses to listen for the return of birdsong, feel the earth thawing, look for signs of green, sniff for damp earth, and taste spring raindrops. Hill's wonderful textured watercolor illustrations convey the chilly wonder of exploring a white and slate gray landscape and the snug warmth of family afternoons on a fleecy rug by the fire. In their drabber colors, Sophie and her family seem to melt in the periphery, while each spread centers on a splotch of vivid red somewhere on Sophie's figure. This ends with the last spread, where the red house is shadowy in the background while a jubilant Sophie catches raindrops in her yellow rain slicker. Readers will linger over the books scattered across the living room floor (including the illustrator's other works) and the spectrum of songbirds scattered in the bare branches. The real attraction, though, is the radiating sense of winter coziness and serenity. VERDICT Titles on the seasons and on the senses are always in high demand, and this artistic gem fills both niches.-Rachel Anne Mencke, St. Matthew's Parish School, Pacific Palisades, CA

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