Sophie’s Animal Parade

Sophie’s drawings, whether they’re of cupcakes or polar bear cubs, tend to spring to life. Is it magic or Sophie’s imagination at work? Dixon (Marathon Mouse) isn’t telling, but it’s clear that this sort of power isn’t easy to manage. Lonely, Sophie summons one animal after another, but her room is too warm for the polar bear and too short for a giraffe, and a duck would rather splash in a kiddie pool than play hide-and-seek. Sophie solves these and other problems with additional drawings (soon, a turtle, elephant, and penguins are in the mix), but it isn’t until she meets a boy who loves animals as much as she does that her desire for friendship is sated. Newcomer Wish’s watercolors have an appealing retro cuteness, though they remain too tidy and pretty to truly capture the chaos and “colossal mess” that eventually drive Sophie and her animals outdoors. And for all that Dixon’s story revels in imaginary (or magical) fun, the takeaway is that real relationships are what matter. Ages 3–5. Author’s agent: Karen Grencik, Red Fox Literary. (May)