Super-Completely and Totally the Messiest

Loved the pictures, hated the text! While I was super-completely excited to read this book to my son, a few pages in I totally started regretting it and for me it turned into a seriously tedious read-aloud. I wasn't sure why at first. True, I haven't read much by [a:Judith Viorst|3080|Judith Viorst|http://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1201030839p2/3080.jpg], but we loved [b:Alexander|150627|Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day|Judith Viorst|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1355079784s/150627.jpg|1086647] and used to quote him a lot actually when we were having those Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Days. But then it struck me that although this may work in [b:Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad show more Day|150627|Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day|Judith Viorst|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1355079784s/150627.jpg|1086647], the same stylistic ruse is here used to describe Sophie's (and at the same time Olivia's, in a way) antics, and it just gets very old, very quick. I totally bore with the repetition, the exaggerations and the monotonous, long winded, never ending whining of Alexander, because I thought it served the purpose of transporting us into his skin, into his head and helped us empathize with his plight. But here, whether it's because the culprit is not the one telling the story or not, this gets aggravating and it even occurred to me if the book could have just done without the text and been wordless, as the pictures tell most of the story anyway. And here's what I liked about the book: [a:Robin Preiss Glasser's|730253|Robin Preiss Glasser|http://www.goodreads.com/assets/nophoto/nophoto-F-50x66-2a9d702c2a0f483c9f7dd119cc28a9a7.jpg] illustrations are fantastic. They're busy for sure (after all we're dealing with the super-completely and totally messiest sister on earth), but color is used for emphasis to draw out the plot essentials. I notice that the same technique has been applied in a 2009 version of [b:Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day|6948574|Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day|Judith Viorst|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1348430392s/6948574.jpg|1086647]. Incidentally, illustrator [a:Robin Preiss Glasser|730253|Robin Preiss Glasser|http://www.goodreads.com/assets/nophoto/nophoto-F-50x66-2a9d702c2a0f483c9f7dd119cc28a9a7.jpg] created the pictures of [b:the last one in the Alexander trilogy|232127|Alexander, Who's Not (Do You Hear Me? I Mean It!) Going to Move|Judith Viorst|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1347438789s/232127.jpg|1907234] in the style of [a:Ray Cruz|135834|Ray Cruz|http://www.goodreads.com/assets/nophoto/nophoto-U-50x66-251a730d696018971ef4a443cdeaae05.jpg].

So, unless you think you can handle the horrible, and much too wordy text, avoid this as a read aloud. This book could still work for kids doing their own reading however, while you read it silently you'll just tend to gloss over all the repetition, and that's fine I guess. The same applies to all the Fancy Nancy books, so charmingly illustrated by Glasser again, but so exasperating to read even if the stories aren't too bad.

Actually, never mind the text: the pictures alone make it worthwhile to pick up this book, so I'm rating it 3 stars. And if you like [a:Robin Preiss Glasser|730253|Robin Preiss Glasser|http://www.goodreads.com/assets/nophoto/nophoto-F-50x66-2a9d702c2a0f483c9f7dd119cc28a9a7.jpg] as much as I do, you may also want to check out the Balloon series ... show less

An extremely entertaining book about a girl named Olivia and her little sister, Sophie. Olivia thinks Sophie is the messiest person in the world. Everything she does causes a mess. Sophie's entire family keeps telling her she needs to be more like Olivia. This book is a very amusing story. The wording throughout the book is just like that of a young person. Second, third, and even a few years older would most certainly enjoy reading this book! I'm in college and I even found myself smiling. I definitely reccomend it!

This is a great girlie book that I'm sure a lot of girls can relate to. The book is about a girl who is completely messy. Everything does turns into a huge mess. Even when the girl's older sister and brother try to help her prepare breakfast in bed for their mom, she turned everything into a huge mess. This book will help kids connect easily. This book also had a good message at the end because each family member said a nice thing about Sophie even though she is a huge mess. Reading Level: 4-8

This book is cute for a fourth or fifth grade class. They would enjoy the book and most of them could relate to the book. It is about a very neat and clean older sister talking about how messy her younger sister is. Whether the children relate because they are the messy ones or their siblings are the messy ones, they will enjoy the book and want to share stories of their own afterward. The publisher website is geared more toward young adults so there are not many options for children at the website. The website is http://www.yabookscentral.com/cfusion/index.cfm.

This is a really cute book that smaller children would love. It is about a little girl named Sophie who is completely messy! She is always dirty, and she does whatever she pleases. She has no schedule and she cant keep anything clean. It would be a cute read for children when talking about doing chores, and why it is important to help around the clasroom and at home. Some children would be able to also relate to Sophie because they might be messy themselves!

This book is about a family that tries to get their youngest daughter/sister, Sophie to stop being so messy and clean her room. Her older sister, Olivia, has a very neat room that is always clean and organized and her older brother, Jake, is sort-of but not a huge slob. Sophie certainly did not take after her older siblings and has stuff everywhere in her room and can not find anything! Sophie's mother and father try to warn her and get her to be neat like her brother and sister, but she does not change. When she tries to clean up a mess, it just gets messier. Sophie's hair is a frizzy and curly and she freaks out if anyone tries to brush it, her parents have found a whistle, a ring, and a piece of a sandwich in her hair while trying to show more brush it out. Although there is plenty of positive things that Sophie's family members have to say about her, they all know that she is just super-completely and totally the messiest, and it may never change but they can always try to help. show less

Nawwww I super-completely loved this story. And oh do I know so many kids who are just like Sophie. I laughed like mad at breakfast in be - no spoiler you'll just have to buy it and read it! A great story and fun to read.