Sophie's Lovely Locks
Gr PreK-3 Sophie loves her long, blond hair. Soft lines in the watercolor illustrations show its movement and her delight in it as she twirls and swirls. The curving lines become tighter and the scenes around Sophie more cluttered as her hair both coils in the rain and gets in the way of her energetic play. After she pops some bubblegum in her hair, she finally decides that it is too much work. A smiling Sophie sits for a haircut at the salon and a shorter-haired but stylish Sophie packs her ponytail into an envelope addressed to Locks for Kids. The next page shows a girl who looks quite a bit like Sophie delightedly trying on her new wig. Later, both girls style their shoulder-length cuts in their own mirrors. Sophie concludes that two girls with short hair are better than one girl with none. The playful main character presents the obvious message in a joyous, engaging way. Three organizations that accept donated hair are listed at the end of the book. --School Library Journal March 2011Grades 1-5 Cute little Sophie has long, lovely locks that are curly, twirly, and girly! She can wear her hair in braids or pigtails, or flying free in the rain. As the reader can predict, Sophie does not like a snarly, tangly mess. Readers can hear the ouch and the eek as Sophie tries to untangle the mess. In order to get her hair under control, she tries a number of options which all just make her hair a bigger mess and make the reader giggle. Finally, determining her hair is too much work, she heads out for a haircut, but this haircut is special because she will donate her hair to some other little girl who needs it. This is a precious story with princess-like illustrations that are ideal for Sophie s story of love. The author s notes include contact information on Locks of Love as well as two other organizations. Highly Recommended. --Roxanne Welch Mills, Educational Reviewer, Smithfield, Virginia