Children’s Book Reviews: This is Sadie
This is Sadie, by award-winning author Sara O’Leary, introduces a little girl whose imagination knows no bounds. Sadie sails across the ocean in a cardboard box, hammers the finishing touches on a fort and climbs a tree to chat with birds – all before breakfast. Whether she is whispering sweet nothings to her best dress, or pretending to be a snail, Sadie’s winsome personality shines through. More than anything else, her favourite flights of fancy are stories, “because you can make them from nothing at all.”Julie Morstad’s dreamy watercolour and pencil crayon illustrations showcase Sadie starring in her own storybook retellings: donning a Mad Hatter’s top hat, knickers and striped stockings, she has a Wonderland tea party with Alice; underwater, she’s a raven-haired mermaid who lives amongst seaweed and swims with jellyfish; deep in the wilds of the jungle, she’s a boy raised by howling wolves.
The conversational narrative style has the intimate feeling of sharing secrets with an old friend. Sadie’s creative spirit takes her anywhere she wants to go, and readers are warmly invited to follow her lead. This is Sadie is a beautiful ode to the transformative power of storytelling.
Linda Ludke is a librarian at London Public Library. Her reviews have appeared in Quill and Quire, School Library Journal and CM: Canadian Review of Materials. When she’s not reading and writing she also loves searching for vintage treasures.
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