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Mimmy and Sophiewritten by Miriam Cohen, illustrated by Thomas F. Yezerski40 pp., full-color illustrations, ages 4-7 (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1999) ISBN-10: 0374349886 ISBN-13: 9780374349882 To jump ahead on this page, click one of these links:
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Mimmy and Sophie contains four separate stories about two sisters, Mimmy and Sophie, who live in Brooklyn during the 1930’s. Mimmy and Sophie are sometimes best friends and sometimes not. Their good hearts, humor, and imagination always win in the end.
The first story, “Lucky Popsicles,” has Mimmy and Sophie wondering what they might get if they won a “Win Your Dream” contest sponsored by a popsicle company. When they don’t win, they have to reconsider what it means to be lucky. “At Gramma and Grampa’s” is about a Sunday visit to Mimmy and Sophie’s grandparents. The author subtley hints that Gramma and Grampa were mistreated as Jews in Russia. Mimmy and Sophie show their compassion and thoughtfulness. “The Fight” is a comical look at sisters who aren’t getting along and the gentle, quiet way they get back together. The last story, “The Vacation,” has Mimmy and Sophie’s Momma and Poppa taking the girls on a picnic to the Brooklyn Bridge, which proves just as fun as any vacation they can’t afford.
I couldn’t believe my luck when I was asked to illustrate a book by such a distinguished author as Miriam Cohen. Her book, Will I Have a Friend?, is a classic in children’s literature. After writing dozens of books to help young children cope with their unique fears and problems, Miriam turned to her own childhood to write Mimmy and Sophie. In the beginning, the book was eight long stories, so I suggested we should just use four stories and divide the pages into panels. I couldn’t believe Miriam and my editor went along with me, because I was just starting out. They believed in me, though, and we made a really special book.
I didn’t meet Miriam Cohen until we appeared at a bookstore together to talk about Mimmy and Sophie, after it came out. She was just as wonderful as I imagined. Miriam made me so happy when she told me how much she loved the paintings and how they brought her childhood to life again. She had a surprise to tell me, though. Even though the character, Mimmy, is really Miriam herself, there was no Sophie. Miriam didn’t even have a sister!
Mimmy and Sophie is included on the Cooperative Children’s Book Center’s annual list of recommended books, CCBC Choices.
Here are excerpts from the reviews:
“This is a lovely, old-fashioned picture book in four chapters that grandmothers especially will find hard to resist for reading aloud to their grand offspring . . . The author evokes the period without sentimentality, and the artist recreates a Brooklyn neighborhood as it must have looked in the days of trolley cars, safe neighborhood streets to play on, and autos with rumble seats.” — Parents’ Choice, 1999
“The place is Brooklyn, the time is the Depression, and Mimmy and Sophie share the push and pull that sisterhood brings. The action is divided into four vignettes, each sweeter than the next . . . Yezerski’s blocks of pictures/books_pictures/books_full-size have an almost comic-strip look, but the watercolor-and-ink are is not cartoony: it has an old-fashioned feel, and its details re-create a special time and place.” — Booklist, August, 1999
“Four nostalgic stories . . . show how life used to be, with its pleasures simple yet satisfying, and stress how love is the real heart of happiness . . . A childlike innocence suffuses the soft-toned pen-and-ink and watercolor pictures, which are arranged in blocks like sections of a large comic strip. The girls have big, expressive faces and short bodies, making them appear especially vulnerable. The city scenes are carefully detailed, and the artwork enhances the tender stories.” — School Library Journal, April 1, 1999
“Four tender reminiscences feature Mimmy and her younger sister, Sophie . . . Storyboard panels in somber colors depict the old-fashioned stories with innocence and simplicity; the understated, wholesome adventures don’t rely on fast-paced action or antics, but small, rounded conclusions that have the veracity of real life.” — Kirkus Reviews, January, 1999