A Mind of Her Own: Sophie's Terrible Twos by Rosemary Wells

"HOW OLD IS MY SOPHIE THIS MORNING?" ASKED SOPHIE'S MOM.

SOPHIE KNEW...

BUT SHE WOULDN'T SAY.

"MAMA HAS A BEAUTIFUL DRESS FOR HER SOPHIE!" SAID MOM.

"NO PINK!" SAID SOPHIE.

It's her birthday. You'd think Sophie would be in a good mood.  But nothing pleases her--not a new dress, not Daddy's blueberry birthday pancakes, not new pink fairy wings to match the dress, not the new talking alphabet blocks that Granny has for her in pretty birthday wrappings. Clearly, as Mama observes, Sophie has gotten up on the wrong side of her crib and taken a turn down Grumpy Street.

Granny sees that things are not going well at Sophie's house.

"LET'S HIT THE ROAD!"

Granny pops Sophie into her motorcycle stroller and zooms off toward town before Sophie can protest, but even a stop at the usually exciting Learning Curve Toy Store for a better birthday present doesn't please Sophie. She's having none of the educational toys on their shelves either!

Then Granny has a different idea, one suited to Sophie's mood.

"HOW ABOUT A TIGER SUIT?" SAID GRANNY.

That's big YES (five of them, actually) from Sophie, the first positive thing she's said all day. And this time fortune smiles, as Zeke's Palace of Costumes has one size two tiger costume still in stock. Sophie growls, roars, and waves her clawed paws all the way home.

Like Maurice Sendak's Max, playing a scary something seems to be just what Sophie needs to get the wild thing within out, just in time for a happy second birthday party at last at Sophie's house, in Rosemary Wells' latest Sophie saga, Sophie's Terrible Twos (Viking Books, 2014). Wells' grumpy little gray mouse toddler is as endearing as she is exasperating, and Granny is just the right gal to figure out how banish the two-year-old grumpies, at least temporarily. Pair this one with Wells' delightful first story, Time-Out for Sophie (see review here) for a twosome of terrible two tales.