Book Descriptions
for When Sophie's Feelings Are Really, Really Hurt by Molly Bang
From Cooperative Children's Book Center (CCBC)
Sophie’s favorite tree—the big beech that she goes to whenever she is angry or sad, the one that makes her feel calm and good again—is the one she decides to paint during art. But painting the tree how it really looks, with its gray trunk and plain green leaves, doesn’t capture how the tree makes her feel. So she paints the trunk turquoise, and the sky orange, and the leaves chartreuse. She adds a yellow border around the tree, and animals in its branches. Now her picture captures the way the tree makes her feel: happy! Until her classmates begin teasing: “We’re supposed to paint a real tree Sophie. You did it WRONG.” Luckily Sophie’s teacher, inviting Sophie and another student to talk about their very different pictures, knows exactly how to affirm that there isn’t a right or wrong way for an artist to capture the truth about something in Molly Bang’s visually vibrant and emotionally rich and engaging story. Highly Commended, 2016 Charlotte Zolotow Award (Ages 4–8)
CCBC Choices 2016. © Cooperative Children's Book Center, Univ. of Wisconsin - Madison, 2016. Used with permission.
From the Publisher
In a sequel to her bestselling When Sophie Gets Angry..., Caldecott Honor Illustrator Molly Bang asks: What hurts your feelings, and what do you do about it?Everyone's feelings get hurt, and it's especially painful in childhood. In this story, Bang's popular character Sophie is hurt when the other children laugh at her and tell her she's wrong. Sophie's face gets hot, and tears begin to flow. Then she questions herself and the value of the choices she's made.At issue is Sophie's colorful, expressive painting of her favorite tree. Sophie loves it, but her picture is different from the paintings done by the other students. "The sky isn't orange! Trees aren't blue! Your picture is wrong!" they tell her.In addition to the book's subtle art lesson (imagine the skies of Vincent van Gogh, for example), readers have the opportunity to compare and contrast all the paintings done in Sophie's class. In the end, the students learn there are many different ways to interpret the world -- and each other. Here is a simple story that tackles the common issue of hurt feelings as it gently helps us to be more kind.
Publisher description retrieved from Google Books.