When Sophie Gets Angry--Really, Really Angry...

July 12, 2004
"Raw zigzags of color convey a girl's rage when her sister takes her toy in this compassionate volume, which proposes a cure for anger," PW
said. "Bang treats childhood emotions with respect." Ages 3-up.

January 1, 1999
PreS-Gr 2-Sophie is playing with her stuffed gorilla when her sister wrests it from her, knocking her to the floor. When their mother agrees that it is her sister's turn to play with the toy, Sophie becomes so angry that "She wants to smash the world to smithereens." She kicks, screams, and eventually runs into the woods where she climbs a huge beech tree, looks out over the water, and is comforted by the "wide world." Calm, she returns home ready to participate in family life. The text is appropriately brief, for it is Bang's double-page illustrations, vibrating with saturated colors, that reveal the drama of the child's emotions. Floorboards slant diagonally across two pages, echoing the agitation of the siblings as they engage in a tug of war. A close-up of Sophie's face with blue eyes blazing and pigtails flying is set against a fire-red background. Bang gives the ranting girl a huge red shadow. On the next spread, Sophie releases a "ROAR" so enormous that she seems to shrink off the page. The trees, outlined in bright red, mimic the girl's anger, then bow down as she passes by stooped and weeping, and finally sport bright-green outlines as she returns home cheered and hopeful. Sophie, like a missing piece, rejoins her family as the puzzle they are working on is completed. Pair this excellent story with Dorothea Lachner's Andrew's Angry Words (North-South, 1995).-Marianne Saccardi, Norwalk Community-Technical College, CT

February 1, 1999
Ages 4^-8. There's no shortage of books that deal with children's feelings--the sadness that comes when someone dear dies, jealousy toward a new sibling, disappointment when things don't go as planned--but most couch their explanation in layers of story, and many have a responsive adult adding sage advice. Bang, on the other hand, concentrates first and foremost on the emotion and shows a young child dealing with it strictly on her own terms. The setup is easy to grasp. Sophie becomes angry because she has to give a toy to her sister. When her sister snatches the toy away, causing Sophie to trip, Sophie becomes angrier still. "Oh, is Sophie ever angry now!" The remainder of the book uses bold graphics, supplemented by a few well-chosen words, to show how anger affects Sophie and what she does about it--from physical expression ("She kicks. She screams. She wants to smash the world to smithereens.") and escape (she runs outdoors) to the emotional release (tears and finding a quiet place where the "wide world comforts her"). The artwork is dynamic. Hot reds, bright yellows and oranges, and jagged shapes that seem to quiver on the page catch the intensity of anger, with Bang softening her palette to more subdued colors as Sophie calms down, and adjusting it back to sunnier ones when Sophie returns home to her loving family. Children may need to be assured that other options besides running outdoors exist for dealing with anger, but that said, Bang's strong, nonproscriptive acknowledgment of a feeling most children will recognize will be welcomed, as will the reassurance that though anger may come, it will also go away given time. ((Reviewed February 1, 1999))(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 1999, American Library Association.)

January 4, 1999
Raw zigzags of color convey a girl's rage in this compassionate volume, which proposes a cure for anger. Sophie's temper flares when her sister demands a turn playing with a favorite stuffed gorilla. Matters worsen when Sophie's mother passes judgment ("It is her turn now, Sophie") and Sophie trips over a toy truck in the resulting tug-of-war. Infernal shades of orange, yellow and red liken Sophie to a shuddering volcano; a gray cat with jagged fur wisely gets out of her way. With the "PABAM!" of a slammed door, the girl races outside. "She runs and runs and runs until she can't run anymore. Then, for a little while, she cries." Gradually, a calmer Sophie begins noticing birds and ferns. When she returns home, relaxed again, her sister has abandoned the gorilla in favor of a tabletop puzzle. With minimal text, Bang (Common Ground; Ten, Nine Eight) gives a realistic account of embattled siblings and prescribes self-imposed solitude. Edgy illustrations with roilingly patterned foreground shapes and looming, dark backgrounds convey Sophie's inner violence; in particular, a quiet image of a ghostly gray beech against a midnight-blue sky is reminiscent of Van Gogh's Japanese-print-inspired scenes. Bang's evocatively illustrated book suggests no quick fixes; she treats childhood emotions with respect. Ages 2-7.

July 1, 1999
The rage a girl experiences when her sister takes her toy away is made manifest by Bang's shrewd use of intense color, onomatopoeia, and illustrative metaphor that depicts Sophie as "a volcano, ready to explode." Readers can feel the mood shift when Sophie runs outside and climbs a tree to comfort herself, and the fiery, angry colors change to soothing greens and blues.

(Copyright 1999 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)