Sophie's Squash

Starred review from May 27, 2013
Debut author Miller takes the idea of playing with one’s food to another level in this sensitive but funny story about a girl’s affection for a squash. When Sophie selects a butternut squash at the farmer’s market, her parents assume they will be having it for dinner. Sophie, however, quashes that plan by adopting the vegetable as her new best friend and naming her Bernice (“It was just the right size to hold in her arms.... Just the right size to love”). Despite gentle prodding to relinquish Bernice before she rots, Sophie brings her deteriorating pal to the library and somersaults with her in the yard. Miller’s easygoing storytelling taps into the familiar scenario of children making fierce attachments to favorite objects; Sophie is passionate without being bratty, her parents are pragmatic but not harsh, and Sophie eventually makes new friends, including Bernice’s offspring. Wilsdorf’s (Five Funny Bunnies) winsome ink-and-watercolor scenes adeptly capture both Sophie’s many moods (“Don’t listen, Bernice!” she scowls when her mother suggests baking the squash with marshmallows) and her unruly pigtails. Ages 3–7. Author’s agent: Ammi-Joan Paquette, Erin Murphy Literary Agency.

Starred review from May 9, 2016
As the heroine of Sophie’s Squash (2013) heads to school, Bonnie and Baxter—the butternut squash she befriended at the end of that book—come along. The squashes’ painted-on smiles keep them looking permanently happy, but Sophie is having a rougher time: “The chairs were uncomfortable. The milk tasted funny. And no one appreciated her two best friends.” A cheerful boy named Steven
is the worst offender, as far as Sophie is concerned, and she rebuffs his repeated attempts at friendship. Once again, Wilsdorf adeptly captures Sophie’s every mercurial grimace and scowl, as well as her softening attitudes, both toward school and toward Steven, who Miller gives the patience of a saint. By book’s end, most readers will be willing to side with Sophie’s parents, who remind her that it’s good to have friends: “Especially human ones.” Ages 3–7. Author’s agent: Ammi-Joan Paquette, Erin Murphy Literary. Illustrator’s agency: Studio Goodwin Sturges.