Two Problems for Sophia

Sophia #2

by Jim Averbeck, Yasmeen Ismail (Illustrator)

Sophia quickly learns her new pet comes with two giraffe-sized problems in this sequel to One Word from Sophia.

Sophia and Noodle, her One True Desire, are together at last.

But Noodle comes with two gigantic problems, and those problems are tearing Sophia’s family apart!

Can a little creative experimenting save Noodle? Or will Sophia have to bid him adieu?

Genres: Picture Books, Animals, Family, Childrens, Science, Storytime, Humor

40 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2018

About the author

I was born and raised in the suburbs of Cincinnati, Ohio, a beautiful city built, like Rome, on seven hills-wooded hills of oak, walnut, and maple where I and my childhood imagination ran wild.

I enjoy throwing myself into situations which give me an opportunity to explore and grow. I joined the Peace Corps in my late twenties and went to live in Cameroon in western Africa for almost four years. It was there I first realized I wanted to write for children.

Reviews

[Meg · Rating 3 out of 5]

The inside cover taught me so many giraffe facts!

[Rod Brown · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sophia's family is unhappy with her new pet's loud snoring, so Sophia spends the book testing different ways to muffle, transform or stop the noise.

I rather like Sophia and her giraffe, Noodle, but the other members of her family are so harsh and negative they just ruin the book for me.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sophia is back! I fell in love with the first installment in what is (happily) becoming a series of some of the most delightful children's picture books to hit the scenes in recent years. As with One Word From Sophia, Two Problems is ripe with rich language (and a handy dandy glossary) immediately endearing it to this word lover. Sophia is utterly adorable; both charming and plucky. This time her giraffe companion, Noodle, is causing a bit of commotion. Whimsical illustrations, rich with color add even more depth to an already wonderful book.

[Emmy Neal · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'm really peeved. This book should have checked all the boxes--a cute giraffe, all female characters, STEM creative problem solving, a diverse family, but it executes it TERRIBLY with a problematic theme. How is it getting all these starred reviews?

I hate any children's book that tells a character they have to change to be loved, even if that animal is a pet, and there's no progression in this book between hating the giraffe and acceptance. The family hate Sophia's pet giraffe until she builds a sleep apnea device to quiet his snoring, and then it's all "Of course we'd never abandon him! He's family!" If you conform to make other people comfortable, they will love you. What kind of message is that? They are in no way supportive as Sophia tries to solve the snoring problem.

The art isn't grounded in a setting, which a lot of reviews appear to enjoy but which I thought made the story difficult to follow. The words on the page are unevenly distributed, so some pages look crowded and some look sparse. The vocabulary words were crowbarred into the narrative and weren't integrated in a way that children would grasp. (Not to mention they were just bad words? Why were they chosen?)

By not attaching it in setting, the story is weirdly ungrounded. The repetition isn't well executed, it relies on weird vacob choices or onomatopoeia and therefore the story lacks rhythm.

And love hinges on making other people's lives easier, which I just haaaaate as a message.

I JUST DON'T UNDERSTAND THE STARRED REVIEWS?!?! I would never recommend this for purchase at my library.

[Rebecca Ann · Rating 5 out of 5]

There is something irresistible about noodle the slobbery giraffe! I love the art in this story so much! Averbeck effortlessly weaves together an inspiring tale of a little girl solving problems through science and some pretty awesome vocabulary in a fun tale!

[Tracie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sophia is back! This time her family is tired. They can't sleep because Noodle the giraffe snores. Time to problem solve!

[Danielle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Charming follow up to the first Sophia book. More vocabulary, more Sophia smarts, more endearing family members, including Noodle the giraffe who snores.

[Patricia N. McLaughlin · Rating 1 out of 5]

A big mess—from the sloppy illustrations to the jumble of words to the haphazard plot that uses a hapless giraffe as a pet, a punchline, and a lab animal for torturous experiments. Sophia’s so-called solution is completely inappropriate for a species that never sleeps lying down and does not snore. Why include the Giraffacts in the front endpaper and flyleaf only to contradict them in the story? Kudos for the multicultural family and protagonist.

[Lisa Yee Swope · Rating 5 out of 5]

What do you do to endear your pet giraffe to your family when said giraffe snores like to wake the dead? Sophia, fortunately, is a problem-solver par excellence.
A STEM story with great vocabulary adds for kids who ask questions and make the world a better place.

[Earl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sophia is back with a big and long-necked problem- her new pet giraffe Noodle. She must use all her problem solving skills and imagination and ingenuity to come up with a solution to make keeping Noodle not a hindrance to her and her family.

[Brandy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sophia has to figure out how to fix her Giraffe's snoring problem before the family send him back home.

[Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great picture books for elementary aged kids; teaches some vocabulary words along the way; illustrations rock. Grand-mama is the best!

[Stephanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Omg, so excited to have more Sophia! Not only is Sophia a skilled negotiator (as we know from the previous book), she is a gifted engineer as well. Pair this with Ada Twist, Scientist!

[Sarah Threlkeld · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun follow up to One Word from Sophia about creativity and perseverance.

[Kathryn (Dragon Bite Books) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review originally posted on my blog, Nine Pages .

There was a lot to love in this story about Sophia, her pet giraffe Noodle, and the problems that Noodle causes for Sophia’s multi-generational, interracial family, in which each character has a pretty stunningly unique voice for characters in a picture book. It opens with Sophia being “happysad” which I love because it acknowledges an oft-felt but not oft-acknowledged emotion. Noodle snores, and Noodle’s kisses with his long, blue tongue are sloppy and wet and particularly irk Grand-mamá, whom Noodle seems particularly fond of—in the way that cats will always find the one person who doesn’t want to pet them. Sophia’s Mother, whom I suspect from the language that she uses and that the authors use to describe her actions works in the courtroom either as a lawyer or judge—probably a judge—“render[s] her verdict. Noodle is guilty” and she “order[s Sophia] to find a perdurable solution.” Several times in this book the adults drop some heavy words. ‘Perdurable’ is not a word that I knew when I read this book, and I’ve near 30 years of life experience, an English degree, and a penchant for books with lofty language. Sophia tries several ways to silence Noodle’s snores or to make them more palatable, consulting the Internet for ideas, building contraptions herself, and consulting experts in the field, including an acoustic-engineer who tells Sophia that Noodle’s “neck-to-lung-capacity ratio creates a giant echo chamber.”

Noodle’s sloppy kisses are always preceded by the same phrase, which was fun to repeat but also let the anticipation build before the blech! of usually poor Grand-mamá appearing covered in giraffe spittle. “His eyelashes danced a little fuzzle, then his nose swooped in for a nuzzle.”

This is apparently a sequel to a book called One Word for Sophia that I’d not heard of previously but now want to find.

[Kelsey · Rating 2 out of 5]

The conflict in this story felt so random and unrelateable, and it seemed like her family should’ve been trying harder to help her resolve it (both books presented lazy, critical, negative, and unhelpful adults, which was hard to tolerate).

I enjoyed the elevated vocabulary in this book (just as I did with the first book in the series), and I appreciated all of the research and effort that she put in to resolve the conflict. I think this series does a good job with showing a headstrong and enterprising young girl who works hard to resolve the conflicts she experiences in her life. I feel like I should’ve been able to predict her method for solving the snoring problem, but I found myself carried along by the story and actually didn’t see the ending coming (although some parts—like the reaching out to a musical expert I found rather random and confusing, and I was taken out of the story in those moments).

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

I should point out at the beginning here that I haven't read the first installment in this series and I think I would have enjoyed this one more if I had. The background is never explained, it just starts with, "Sophia loved Noodle but had one problem." The illustrations are messy, but fun and the idea of a giraffe as a pet is hilarious. Apparently, he snores and no one can get any sleep because of him. So, Sophia sets out to solve this problem and has a few false starts along the way.

A fun group read aloud!

[Morgan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think this book would be good for prek-1st graders. It's a funny story about a girl named Sophia getting a pet giraffe, which her family does not like because it snores too loud. Sophia tries to come up with many solutions to fix the snoring, and eventually at the end she comes up with one that works, and her family agrees to let her keep the giraffe. I like this book because it shows Sophia solving the problem in order to keep her pet. I also like it because it has some big words repeated over and over so that the little ones listening to the book can learn some new vocabulary words!

[Christy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mr. McGinty and his dog Sophie love checking in on the monarch caterpillars and butterflies on their summer walks. But one day Mr. McGinty is shocked to find that all the milkweed in town has been mowed down! And monarch caterpillars, he explains, can't survive without milkweed. Can Mr. McGinty come up with a plan to save the monarchs? This is a tale that is informative, a call to action, and a sweet story time pick

[Melanie Gaum · Rating 2 out of 5]

Better than the first one, but still not great. No one offers to help Sophia solve the problem of her snoring pet giraffe (the front matter says giraffes do not snore, but they do hum), they just complain and tell her to get rid of him. Once the snoring problem is solved, everyone loves the giraffe and the grandma says, "We couldn't live without you, Noodle. After all, you are family." When did this sentiment happen? If they love him so much, why didn't they help?

[Sheri · Rating 4 out of 5]

A child with a giraffe pet is highly unusual but Sophia thinks Noodle is worth keeping. The whole family votes for a permanent solution to his snoring or out he goes. Sophia must work to find a way to keep Noodle. And I was smiling at the solution and the way she solved her problem after much experimentation. Good story for problem solving and the scientific method,

[Kathy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love how Sophia faces a problem (her giant giraffe snores), and doesn't give up even when her first tries are unsuccessful. Give this to someone who won't try because they're a perfectionist, or to a budding scientist/engineer. Kudos to the illustrator for making this scientific protagonist an African American little girl in a mixed race family.

[Kim Harnes · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found myself not enjoying this quite as much as the first one. The story was adorable, but I have to admit I was a little creeped out by some of the illustrations (namely the shirtless, hairy dad). I do, however, realize that I am an adult reading a picture book, and the target age group might think differently. :)

[Michelle Normand · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really like Sophia and her problem solving skills. Lots to like about this book; I just felt some of the vocabulary was heavy handed. A good read for older kids and would pair well with Ada Twist Scientist.

[Riah · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is so cute! It’s about a little black girl and her pet giraffe. She needs to science up a solution to his snoring so her family can sleep. I love the way adult vocabulary is used in a kid friendly way and how this normalizes CPAP machines for kids.

[Angela De Groot · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sophia loves her giraffe, the rest of the family not so much! Living with a giraffe brings a unique set of problems but when you add yucky, sloppy kisses and tuba-like snoring to the equation, well then the giraffe just has to go! Can Sophia find a way for them to all live happily ever after?

[Celest · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fun, educational, and great illustrations. My 1 year okd enjoyed the story, but it is written in such a way that all ages will get something new from the book. I especially liked the fact sheet about giraffes at the beginning.

[Erin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Cute follow up to the first Sophia book, but I thought it was sad that the family wanted to get rid of the giraffe when he snored and disrupted their sleep, but he became someone the family couldn’t live without when the snoring stopped.

[Laura Hook · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love the vocabulary kids are exposed to. Sophia is very inventive, trying to figure out how to solve the problem of her giraffe snoring and no one else in the family being able to get any sleep. I really like the author's note of "Giraffacts." I learned some fun things I didn't know!

[Madison Carter · Rating 1 out of 5]

Genre: Contemporary Realistic Fiction
Grade Level:K-1

I thought that the illustrations in this were very cute, but I really did not enjoy the story. I thought that it was all over the place and hard to track with. I really don't have much of an impression of the story.