REVIEW and EXCERPT
Sophie and the Bookmobile
by Kathleen M. Jacobs
Sophie and the Bookmobile by Kathleen M. Jacobs is currently on tour with RABT Book Tours and PR. The tour stops here today for my review and an excerpt. Please be sure to visit the other tour stops as well.
Description
When Sophie's family moves from New York City to West Virginia, she not only has to leave her friends and the city and library she loves so much, but she has to figure out what will happen when she discovers that there is no library in her new town. But when she discovers something called a bookmobile and other new treasures, all is right with the world.
Excerpt
Chapter 1
What did you say?” Sophie Hunter asked as her mother filled and taped the last box of books from Sophie’s room. She labeled it SH: BOOKS with a hunter green marker, Sophie’s favorite color. Sophie stopped in her tracks, frozen as if she had just been hypnotized; she refused to believe not only what her mother had said, but that it had any truth to it at all. It reminded her of the time her best friend, Pepper (who called Sophie “Salt” all the time), told her that her new best friend was a boy. A boy?! Sophie couldn’t believe what Pepper had said, any more than she could believe what she thought she had just heard her mother say.
And so, Sophie asked again, “What did you say?”
“Now, Sophie,” her mother said, “there really is no need to be so alarmed.”
“What? No need to be alarmed? Are you kidding me? I mean, really Mom! I need to make sure that what I think I heard was actually what you said.” Sophie was jerked back in motion as if someone had switched her lever to the on position. She quickly sat down on the wooden floor after falling back against the wall: the one with the painted mural of shelf after shelf of books, which her mother had painted for her the year before, on her ninth birthday. Sophie wished she could peel off the mural and take it with her, but knew that was impossible. Her mother had promised her that she would paint it again, on a wall in her bedroom of the new house, in the new town where they were moving, though. Knowing that made Sophie a bit more accepting of this “new adventure,” as her parents called it. Yet with this new revelation, Sophie felt as if she might faint once again.
“I wanted to tell you earlier,” her mother said, “but I knew you would be upset, and there really is no need to be alarmed.”
There it was again: that word, alarmed. The more Sophie’s mother let it slip from her tongue, the more alarmed Sophie became.
“If there is no need, as you say, to be alarmed, then why have you used the word twice already?”
“Sophie, I believe you are a bit more dramatic than is necessary,” her mother replied, dodging the question. Sophie’s pure white cat, Snowball, tilted her head, seemingly confused, as she and Sophie looked at each other. Sophie tilted her head as well, in complete agreement with Snowball.
“Well,” Sophie said, “Snowball and I would both have to disagree. As a matter of fact, we’re both more than just a little concerned that you are not alarmed enough.” Suddenly, as if on cue, Snowball and Sophie straightened their gazes and nodded in complete agreement. She and Snowball had always had this affect on one another. Sophie picked up Snowball and hugged her close to her heart.
Sophie felt that because her mother kept saying there was no need to be alarmed that there was, in fact, every reason to be alarmed. And as Sophie’s mother repeatedly looked around her room to make sure that she had packed everything, Sophie was certain that her mother was equally alarmed, even as she tried to appear otherwise. The only things that remained in Sophie’s room that hadn’t been packed away in cardboard boxes were Sophie, her mother, Snowball, and the book that Sophie had just started reading that morning, Missing May. She clutched the novel close to her heart as she held Snowball, afraid that if she released her hold on either that they too would end up in a taped box on their way to their new home, in a place where everything is completely different from what she’d always known.
[Want more? Click below to read a longer excerpt.]
Praise for the Book
“Sophie & the Bookmobile was fun to read! Sophie has to be brave to live without friends or a library when she moves to a small town in West Virginia. But she finds all the things she loves in the Bookmobile! I love that Sophie knows that books are awesome and that she loves West Virginia as much as I do.” ~ Julia, age 10
“I love when my daughter, Julia, can recognize herself in the pages of books, and Jacobs is able to capture both the trials and splendors of childhood perfectly. Plus, any book that confirms that reading is both essential and the best thing ever is the kind of book I want in my daughter's hands!” ~ Anna, Julia's Mom
“I grew up LOVING the bookmobile in our town. Where we live now, we don't have one, so I was excited to introduce my kids to this book that talks about mobile libraries.” ~ Leslie Shogren
“As I read Sophie & the Bookmobile I was reminded of my love of books that began at a young age, which has continued on to this day. In addition to the wonders of books (and bookmobiles), Sophie’s story is a great reminder that change can be good, despite our fears or thoughts that say otherwise.” ~ Ella Dillon
“This is a wonderful story for avid young readers for whom books are perhaps their closest companions.” ~ roadreads
My Review
By Lynda Dickson
Ten-year-old Sophie and her family move from the Upper East Side of Manhattan to a town called Victor, West Virginia. Sophie is excited to be moving to the country – until she finds out that there is no library in Victor. But her mother promises her that there is something even better. What can it be?
The story itself is a bit anti-climactic as, of course, the answer is provided in the book’s title and the author’s note to the reader at the beginning of the book. This story is based on the author’s own discovery of the magic of the bookmobile and is complemented by the cute illustrations by Ashley Teets. Unfortunately, not all chapters have a picture, and there isn’t even one of the bookmobile. There are a few editing errors, which is always disappointing in a children’s book. Overall, however, this book successfully conveys both Sophie’s and the author’s love of books and is suitable for budding young book lovers.
About the Author
Kathleen M. Jacobs is the author of the critically-acclaimed YA-novels, Honeysuckle Holiday and Betsy Blossom Brown. Her other works include Marble Town, a book for the MG-reader. Her first children’s book, Please Close It! has enjoyed numerous awards, and her chapbooks The Puppeteer of Objects: A Lyrical Poem and Collected Curiosities: Poems, Essays & Opinions offer insights into human behavior and understanding. She is a former teacher of English and Creative Writing and holds a M. A. in Humanistic Studies. She was the 2017 New River Gorge Writer-in-Residence.
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