Zoe Sophia's Scrapbook

Starred review from May 19, 2003
Aspiring globetrotters will enjoy meeting Zoe Sophia, a sophisticated but sweet nine-year-old New Yorker who shares her scrapbook-in-progress during a voyage to Venice in this kicky picture-book travelogue. Though the narrator adores her big-city life, she eagerly anticipates a trip to Italy to visit her beloved great-aunt Dorothy, with her constant companion, Mickey the dachshund, in tow. Girl and dog immediately embrace Dorothy's version of la dolce vita, touring art galleries and landmarks, riding a vaporetto ("like a boat-bus") and gondola, attending the opera and enjoying Italian cuisine. But when Mickey disappears one afternoon, things threaten to go sour. Happily, a tidy Zoe-Mickey reunion ensures more bright spots in the vacation. Making their children's book debuts, Mauner and Smalley (college friends) create a sensory experience of one of the world's great cities via the eyes of a spirited yet never obnoxious heroine. Italian words and phrases (with parenthetical definitions), names of historic sites and descriptions of various customs pepper Zoe's easy-flowing entries. The text sustains a nice balance between Zoe Sophia's appropriate sense of wonder, and a slightly precocious tone. Throughout, Mauner delivers a distinct sense of place with her watercolor-and-India ink compositions. Her scenes—some full-page paintings, some framed to look like scrapbook photos—incorporate humorous and factual details that lend her setting and characters copious personality (a window view of a "gondola repair shop" looks like a backdrop to a Chirico painting; funky boots, striped stockings and trendy glasses). Readers may well shout, "Brava!" and wish for the heroine's swift return. Ages 3-7.