When Sophie’s Feelings Are Really, Really Hurt

The heroine of Bang’s When Sophie Gets Angry—Really, Really Angry returns more than 15 years after that Caldecott Honor–winning picture book. At school, Sophie’s class is asked to create pictures of their favorite trees from memory. When Sophie paints her favorite beech tree—the very one she took refuge in during the previous book—she colors it bright blue to show how happy it makes her feel. “You did it wrong,” accuses another student, bringing Sophie to tears, but Sophie’s empathic teacher intervenes: “Both artists looked carefully at their trees and made very different—and very special—paintings,” she says, showing Sophie’s painting beside the boy’s realistically colored tree. Bang’s thickly painted images exude energy and feeling, both in the children’s expressions and through the exaggerated dimensions, angles, and colors. It’s another lovely study in emotion from Bang and a thoughtful exploration of art-making. Ages 4–8. (Sept.)