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Sophie the mouse is two years old, and she’s starring in her fourth picture book by Rosemary Wells (author of the Max and Ruby series).
The ten kisses in this latest picture book are the kind that are hard for a toddler to resist: they are the homemade, chocolate kind. After Sophie and her mother make them for Aunt Prunella’s birthday party, they wrap them in “mint green foil” so they look like jewels. Sophie can’t keep her eyes off them. She watches them cool on the counter before bedtime, and follows them to the kitchen when her father puts them out of reach.
During the night, Sophie can’t sleep because she’s doing so much math in her head, trying to figure out if there will be enough chocolate kisses for all the party guests--especially her! She even sneaks out of bed at 11:00 at night to make 10 placecards for the table. Despite her all her pre-planning, Sophie isn’t prepared for the surprise guest who shows up (Cousin Martha from Saskatoon). Granny, who is also very good at doing math in her head, humorously declines a chocolate kiss so Sophie can have her own.
The ink, watercolor and gouache illustrations all appear in pink square frames with rounded edges. The light peach backgrounds complement the green foils around the chocolates. Wells captures that hard-to-contain excitement toddlers are so good at building up when they desperately want something that is out of their reach. Sophie kicks her blanket out of the bedtime illustration when she can’t sleep, and when she looks into the kitchen to see the chocolates, her eyes open wide and she appears to be vibrating and glowing at the same time. A polkadot motif appears on the dirty dishes, in the counter tops, and on the walls and table clothes.
This is a fun counting book to share with toddlers and preschoolers.
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Ten Kisses for Sophie