By Lois Lowry – Clarion Books, 2024
This is a tale of two Sophies, the best of friends. Sophie the younger is 11, Sophie the elder is 88—but their connection is timeless. In this moment of their friendship, young Sophie is quite worried. Elder Sophie’s son is arriving to have his mother’s memory evaluated, and with good reason. She’s been forgetting important things like turning off the stove under her teapot. Young Sophie decides to prepare her friend for her cognition test, so she can ace it at the doctor’s office and be allowed to remain in her own home. She tries to get elder Sophie to remember and recall three simple words—tree, table, book. The test fails and fails again, until Sophie comes up with a technique that prompts the older woman to turn to her memory to connect to each word. In the process, young Sophie learns about her friend’s life in World War II Poland, and elder Sophie basks in the unconditional love and respect from her young companion. No matter what happens on the day of the real test, the Sophies know they’ll always be connected. Newbery winner Lois Lowry’s tale is a wonderful one for children and grandchildren to read together—it likely will spark discussion just like the Sophies share.
