SOPHY AND AUNTIE PEARL

A simple story with few surprises. Sophy discovers she can fly, but no one in the family seems to care, except Auntie Pearl, who has a similar talent. Sophy and Pearl take off to explore the neighborhood; the adults of the town are oblivious to their flight, although all the children see them. When they return from their outing, no one has even noticed they were gone. Titherington's highly realistic drawing style worked well in the more ``grounded'' Pumpkin Pumpkin (1986), but here, her illustrations lack a sense of motion and the aerial sensations of flight. When Sophy and Aunt Pearl gaze into a second-story window, or smile at a giraffe, there is little else in the scene to make them appear elevated. An image of Sophy jumping up or walking in the air doesn't look as if she's flying. Subtle things are wrong: Her hair is unmussed, her clothes have a still drape, and there's no appearance of moving air. The pictures just aren't loosened up enough to get this fantasy off the ground. (Picture book. 4+)