Word Power: One Word from Sophie by Jim Averbeck

SOPHIA'S BIRTHDAY WAS COMING UP, AND SHE HAD FIVE THINGS ON HER MIND--HER ONE TRUE DESIRE AND FOUR PROBLEMS.

When a girl has yen for a giraffe as her birthday present, she knows she'd better put forth a good case.

The jury is a tough one--her mother, the judge, her father, the business guy, her Uncle Conrad the politician, and Grand-Mama', the mistress of propriety. Most parents say, "Use your words," but Sophia's prolix multimedia presentations, sprinkled with words like quadruped, warehousing, defective, and regulations, for each family member would make a lexicographer beam but cut no ice with the four adults.

Too verbose, loquacious, and effusive are the critiques from her elders!

So Sophie tries a new tack. Instead of hundreds of big words, she tries one small, powerful word.

"PLEASE?"

It seems there will be a giraffe in Sophia's future after all, in Jim Averbeck's One Word from Sophia(Atheneum Books, 2015), and the good news brings forth two more power words.

"THANK YOU!"

Averbeck and artist Yasmeen Ismail make a great combination of co-creators, with the author's sparkling (if erudite) text and Ismail's stylized illustrations that capture Sophia's vivacious personality and the dour expressions of her critics perfectly.

Reviewers loved this clever picture book. School Library Journal says, "Ismail's watercolor and colored-pencil illustrations are childlike in the best possible way—featuring bold colors and faces showing great expressions, Sophia's drawings, a pooping giraffe, and just the right amount of detail." And Kirkus, in their starred review, adds "Tutu-wearing Sophia packs determination, whimsy, and a plethora of strategies to handle a passel of impressive words."

And those impressive words are added in a glossary for kids whose gifts run to the garrulous.