Happy Birthday, Sophie Hartley

July 1, 2010
Gr 3–5—-ophie Hartley is about to reach her all-important double-digit birthday. When she decides she wants a baby gorilla for her present, she researches how to care for it and starts planning and plotting. When her busy parents pay more attention to her brother getting a car for his 16th birthday, and her 13-year-old sister moving into her own room, Sophie's yearning for attention snowballs. With her birthday looming on the horizon, she tells friends and classmates that she is getting a gorilla and then is backed into a corner, needing to produce one or be branded a liar. Readers with siblings are sure to identify with Sophie and her siblings bickering and jockeying for attention. This title stands alone but will be celebrated by those following the protagonist's earlier trials and tribulations. Fans of Clementine, Judy Moody, and Ramona will also want to unwrap this gem of a story and savor the delicious conclusion.—"Michele Shaw, Quail Run Elementary School, San Ramon, CA"

Copyright 2010 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

July 1, 2010
For Sophie's "double-digit" birthday, she wants a special pet: a baby gorilla. Things get out of hand when she announces that her parents have consented. At the same time, older sister Nora moves out of the bedroom the two have always shared. All the plot strands merge in a satisfying denouement that's tidy but not in the least predictable.

(Copyright 2010 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

Starred review from July 1, 2010
Impulsive, big-hearted, prone-to-enthusiasms middle-child Sophie Hartley is back in another lively chapter book full of humor, believable family dynamics, and characters who think and talk like real people. For Sophie's "double-digit" birthday (she's turning ten), she wants a special present, something she's longed for all her life: a pet. A baby gorilla, in fact. Things get a little out of hand when Sophie's impetuous announcement to best friends Alice and Jenna that her parents have actually consented spreads throughout her whole fourth grade class. At the same time, older sister Nora moves out of the bedroom the two have always shared, leaving Sophie dramatically bereft ("She was going to be alone for the rest of her life with only a tiny sliver of light under her door for company"), and the reliable threesome of Sophie, Alice, and Jenna is threatened by a new outside friendship. All the plot strands merge in a satisfying denouement that's tidy but not in the least predictable. Greene explores her themes of identity, ambivalence about growing up, and friendship with an unusual naturalness and depth, yet the themes never trump story or character. Here's Sophie, after realizing that she won't be adopting a baby gorilla after all: "Sophie was mentally probing her heart to see if it was broken. Nope...Her passion was gone. She might try living without it for a while. It felt so relaxing."

(Copyright 2010 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)