Review Detail

Lawrence & Sophia

Kids Fiction 201

Friends Help Us Grow

January 05, 2024

Overall rating

3.5

Plot

3.0

Characters

4.0

Writing Style

4.0

Illustrations/Photos (if applicable)

3.0

Lawrence is a little boy who has some anxiety about being out in the world. He stays very close to home, where he builds things and reads. Sophia is a bird who is also anxious, and doesn't want to go close to the ground because it is dangerous. She does venture out onto Lawrence's window sill, and the two strike up a friendship. They do activities together, like flying a kite, where they can both stay in their comfort zones. Eventually, Sophia moves her nest to a lower branch to be closer to Lawrence, and Lawrence builds a tent in the yard to be closer to Sophia. When a storm approaches, each worries about the other. It's a big, scary storm that causes some damage, but also forces the friends out of their comfort zone to make sure the other is okay. This emboldens them to look for further adventures, now that they can be together.

Good Points

Friends are great at helping us push boundaries and do things that we might not do if they weren't there to support us, and Lawrence and Sophia show us the stages of this very well. It's a little odd that this involves a bird, since they are the type of animal that, like per hamsters, tend to run away from humans rather than cuddle up to them. Sophia's large eyes echo Lawrences, and the fact that she's bird does give us more opportunities to get outside.

The art style of this is interesting; it has a bit of a European feel to it, perhaps because of Lawrence's constant hat, vest, and ankle length pants. It's a colored pencil or chalk pastel style, with elements like wispy pine branches and orange and white stripes that show up on the walls in the house and on Lawrence's projects. Most of this is set in the back yard, which makes this feel both cozy and outdoordy.

Young readers need to see a variety of friendships on the page so that they can navigate their own friendships more effectively. This is a good choice to shown the dynamics of interpersonal relationships to the preschool set along with books like Jarvis' Bear and Bird, Greenwald's The Rescues Finding Home, Jones' Love is in the Little Things, and Sorosiak and Holzwarth's Everywhere with You (which also has a storm scene!).