This Is Sadie by Sara O’Leary, Julie Morstad
My rating: 5/5 cats
okay, i am going to get all my picture book reviews out of the way before i tackle the rest of my pending reviews/make-up work, because they are too big for the to-be-reviewed mountain on my windowsill, and i do not want to risk any thanksgiving day avalanches.
in my opinion, this is a perfect book. and while it’s true i tend to up-rate the picture books i read just because they’re like a little pop of candy and who’s not gonna five-star candy? this one hits every funny-bone in my heart. first of all, the artwork is just gorgeous
which is what draws me to picture books in the first place, duh, but here, the text is perfectly-suited to the art and it’s this joyful celebration of the imagination that made me smile with every page.
it’s about sadie; a little girl who is both bookish and crafty, who doesn’t distinguish between friends who live down the street and friends who live in books, who has wings and a tail and tea parties, and who is very concerned about the feelings of inanimate objects like dresses.
to sadie, the journey is just even more important than the destination:
She’s looking for land.
Only she’s not looking too hard.
and i love the nod to the stretched-time feel of childhood
Sadie sails all the way round her room,
and back again.
And it still isn’t even time for breakfast.
it really made me recherche those temps perdu, boy…
especially when we see how handy with a hammer sadie is
and when iiii was little, i made a whole richard scarry-like busy busy town for this little bb that was my friend (which is not at all pathetic so shushify!) and i had a hammer and TWO DIFFERENT saws and i would raid my dad’s workbench for nails and screws and washers and wood scraps and it was glorious. sniff.
and i find i can still relate to sadie’s experience of life:
although, in my case it’s less about the overwhelming banquet of possibility and more about being stressed out and worried and overwhelmed.
solution??
BEDROOM TENT PARTY!!
i am on it!
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i discovered this book when it was a semi-finalist in the goodreads picture book of the year category—i fell in love with the cover, ran right out and bought it and then BAM—it was bounced out of the running. but i don’t even care because it’s a fantastic book and it’ll always be a winner in my eyes!
observe: the inside of the cover is also a poster.
full review to come as i work my way through the towering backlog—i just wanted to let this book know i am waving my tiny banner for it.
go, sadie!
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