SOFIE AND THE CITY

Every Sunday Sofie and her family telephone her grandmother in Senegal. According to Sofie, New York is ugly and cold, and “buildings filled with people stretch nearly to the sky.” Her mama braids hair during the day, and her papa drives a taxi at night. “I think if I come back to Senegal they will not notice,” Sofie says. But her grandmother admonishes her that she must make the city pretty before she comes back. When Sofie meets Kenya, who draws with colorful chalk on the sidewalk, her outlook brightens. The two girls draw pictures of “home”—of the city and of Senegal with its blue water, boats and grandmother laughing and waving on the sand. Suddenly the city no longer seems so ugly. “I think I will be missed,” Sofie tells her grandmother. The acrylic illustrations, which look as though they have been created with chalk on cement, become lighter and happier as Sofie’s feelings change. A lovely story of friendship, cultural adjustment and the solace of art. (Picture book. 6-10)