Mini-Me Reads (3)

Sofia The First

Sofia The First

Written by Catherine Hapka | Illustrated by Grace Lee

Published October 30, 2012 by Disney Press

Meet Sofia, a little girl who lives a rather ordinary life. But everything changes when her mother, Miranda, marries the king. Overnight, Sofia becomes a princess, moves into the castle, gains a step-brother, a step-sister... and the ability to talk to her new animal friends thanks to a magical amulet Now, life is anything but ordinary for Sofia the First

Sofia The First was a book that was quickly grabbed by my daughter on one of our trips to chapters. She was immediately taken with the sparkles and the super cute princess on the cover. There was no way I could say no so we came home and read it. In the end this was a cute story, but I think it had a lot of missed potential.

Sofia is a regular girl whose mother recently married a king. Becoming a princess is wreaking havoc on Sofia’s nerves as she struggles to fit into the role and live up to her new step sister, Amber. Sofia looks for help along the way and gets it from the sorcerer of the castle (who is really no help at all) and the one and only Cinderella teaches her a bit about dealing with unruly stepsisters. I had expected a cute story about Sofia shaking things up in the palace and making the royals realize they didn’t need to be so stuffy all the time. But what we got was Sofia’s struggle to fit in and the lessons that make her perfect, and then she ended up being just that.  My daughter did let out a few chuckles throughout and really enjoyed the wonderful illustrations but I would have liked to see Sofia being accepted for who she was, rather than becoming the perfect princess.

While I was disappointed in the direction Sofia’s growth took, I did enjoy her coming together with Amber and them working together to find a solution. This is a cute story with no real lesson to be had. It definitely has cute drawings, but don’t look for anything too deep in this one.

Memoirs of a Goldfish

 Memoirs of a Goldfish

Written by Devin Scillian | Illustrated by Tim Bowers

Published April 1st, 2012 by Sleeping Bear Press

With his bowl to himself, Goldfish loves his life...until one day...
A personal account from a goldfish on life in his bowl as other intruders crowd him.

Memoirs of a Goldfish was such a funny and heartwarming read! It's written as a daily account of Mr. Goldfish's tank being invaded by new decorations/plants/fish.  I really like that the author chose to tell the story in journal form, the frankness of the entries elicited many laughs out of both my husband and I  & especially our children.

The illustrations are very adorable; the big, bug eyes on the fish and the wispy, lifelike plants were perfect.  As the bowl gets filled up we even zoom in on the tank and it definitely lends to a claustrophobic feeling.  Not only do we zoom in but the pages also get way more colourful and cheery. Once Goldfish is taken out of his tank for a cleaning the canvas is once again very white and colourless.  I loved how well the illustrations conveyed the emotions of the writing, they were spot on in every possible way.

I also loved the revelation Goldfish had in the end of the story when he was left alone in the silence.  Seeing him learn to appreciate his company and even find love was a perfect ending to a very cute story.  This was a very fun story to read and lent a perfect opportunity to get into character & really get into the story.  I highly recommend this one for parents and children alike!