Children’s Book Review: The Super Adventures of Sophie and the City - by Cara Potapshyn Meyers

The Super Adventures of Sophie and the City: 

All in a Days Work

by

Kelly Florio Kasouf

Come explore New York City with Sophie as she travels to different worlds in her Daddy's office building! Learn about fashion, design, weddings, and the glamorous life inside magazine publishing. Even though Sophie enjoys her time discovering new and magical worlds on each floor, she realizes it is more fun to share amazing experiences with the ones you love, your family. See New York City through the eyes of a curious, adventurous, and imaginative little girl.

Sophie comes from a very posh world. Her clothes are designer clothes. Her Father’s car is a Mercedes. She comes from a life that just about every little girl fantasizes about!

While visiting her Father’s office, she enters the imaginary world of fashion. She is introduced to the legendary women trendsetters in fashion and how they set the pace for designers to become more creative. The book describes how famous clothing designers conjure up their inspirations.

Sophie also shares her imaginary desires to visit exotic places, see lavish parties and attend sophisticated weddings.

In the end, though, Sophie realizes that her biggest inspiration wasn’t anything she saw in her Father’s building. It was right in front of her!

The Super Adventures of Sophie and the City is a beautifully illustrated, tender book about materialism versus love of family. The story is gloriously accentuated by elaborate watercolor drawings and scrolled type. It is truly a work of art in every respect.

About the Author:

Kelly Florio Kasouf was raised on the North Shore of Long Island and majored in studio art with a concentration in Printmaking and bookmaking at the College of the Holy Cross. After graduating, it was only a matter of time before she found herself back at the company her father lived for, Condé Nast Publications, where she soon began her career as an intern, then a merchandising assistant at Vanity Fair, and finally a special events manager at Vogue. From visiting as a young girl to interning to working, Kelly grew up inside the walls of Condé Nast. This story is an homage to her father, who passed away in December 2007, and to those in the industry who truly loved him as a leader, a man, and above all, a great storyteller. This is her first children's book. The stories are partially based on life experience.

About the Illustrator:

Judit García-Talavera was born in the Canary Islands of Spain, Judit has always been surrounded by beauty. After attending an arts-oriented high school, Judit first fell in love with illustration as a means of capturing the beauty around her. She earned a degree in Fine Arts at the Universidad de La Laguna, and has participated in several workshops in the Canary Islands, such as the Centro de Arte Gráfico La Recova in Santa Cruz de Tenerife. In 2004 she moved to Barcelona to continue her studies in illustration at the Massana Permanent Academy. Judit presently lives and works in Barcelona.

Currently available for $29.99 exclusively at Barneys stores in New York, Los Angeles, Dallas and Chicago or http://superadventuresofsophie.com

The Super Adventures of Sophie and the City will soon be available as an App
in the iTunes App Store. Check back soon.

The Bunion Shoes by Sharon O'Donnell

Hey, I know that boots of all lengths and shapes are all the fashion rage right now, and most women seem to have at least two pair, maybe more. So am I an old fuddy-duddy if what I really want in footwear fashion is shoes that won't hurt the bunion on my left foot -- it's just a moderate one as the podiatrist says and surgery is only needed if it really, really bothers me. But 'really bothering someone" is a relative term because what bother one person a lot might not bother another person that much. I decided to put off surgery since the memories of my back surgery in August of 2008 are still fresh in mind, though the scar on my neck has faded. And of course, doctors would not have to go through the front of my neck to get to my bunion as they did to repair my C6-C7 vertebrae (though stranger things have been known to happen, I guess!). My foot problem was caused by years of high arches and being on my feet a lot, especially for the past 10 years when I taught writing classes in schools part-time.

It was after teaching one of these series of classes (3-5 hour long classes in a day and constantly standing and walking through the classroom to be animated) that I drove immediately to the shoe store. It was October, and I hadn't taught all summer, during which time I'd been wearing sandals that never rubbed against the bunion. OMG, by the end of the day of teaching, I could barely walk. On the advice of friends who spend more money on shoes than I usually do, I went straight to a store in the mall that sells European shoes that give much more support to feet than most shoes do. Ahhhh. That was the day that I found -- as I've come to fondly call them --- my bunion shoes. I had no pain the rest of the week, and I've rarely worn anything else since then.

The bunion shoes don't look bad -- kind of like a fashionable clog -- but they definitely aren't the fashionable boots so in vogue right now. I did buy a pair of boots to only be worn in situations when I will not have to wear them for longer than 3 hours and will remain sitting for most of that time. Which pretty much means I can wear my boots to movies -- movies which are so dark nobody can see my boots anyway. Oh well.

As I shopped this Christmas and from time to time encountered women trying on boots, some of them obviously not being successful in finding a comfortable pair, I almost leaned over and said, "Psst, hey you you, forget the boots and buy the bunion shoes." Yet, I refrained. A complete stranger spouting the merits of bunion shoes might come off as just a bit weird.

No, bunion shoes aren't especially sexy and certainly indicate that I'm no spring chicken anymore, but I have no qualms about being honest and open about things like bunions and shoe comfort. I know there are lots of women who can relate who would like to know they don't have to wear the boots and grin and bear the pain. Go for the bunion shoes, ladies. You'll be glad you did.

My Little Fashionista -- by Jamie

Before becoming a mother, I suspect I sometimes looked judgmentally at little girls in completely mismatched outfits…never really understanding why their moms let them leave their houses looking that way. But now I understand that often the way a child dresses really isn’t under the mother’s control. Sometimes it’s not worth battling with your daughter over outrageous fashion choices when you’re already battling to leave the house on time.

Jayda was fighting with me over her outfit selections earlier than I ever imagined she would—probably by the time she turned two. The blissful baby-dressing years—when I’d been able to dress Jayda in whatever I wanted without consulting anyone else’s opinion—ended abruptly, and she was soon pulling clothes out of her drawers, rejecting many of my choices, and throwing fits when I insisted that her clothing selections didn’t match, were out of season, or, simply no longer fit her.

To appease Jayda and foster her creativity, I gave my daughter carte blanche over her pajama choices; I filled the bottom drawer of her dresser with all sorts of tops and bottoms, and let her pick out whatever she wanted to wear at night. Often that meant polka dots on top and stripes on the bottom. Or pink velour pants with a green cotton shirt. And that was fine with me. Jayda’s wacky outfits were confined to the bedroom and I was content. But of course that wasn’t enough for Jayda; it wasn’t long before she wanted control 24/7.

Now, every morning, Jayda is in charge of picking out her clothes for school; I do get to supervise and offer opinions, but Jayda gets the final say (unless my daughter is insisting on wearing a sundress in 30 degree weather, in which case I put my foot down). Fortunately, I don’t have it as bad as some moms at daycare—who are forced to send their kids to school every day in swirly dresses, or swathed in pink from head to toe. But I do have to make sure that I do laundry constantly, because Jayda is obsessed with her Tinkerbell underwear (and asks for it constantly…throwing fits if I inform her that it’s dirty), and goes through phases where she likes to wear the same things over and over again. And lately, she gets very upset if I don’t listen to her fashion advice while dressing myself, as well.

A few weeks ago, I put on a tailored burgundy shirt I hadn’t worn in ages and Jayda snarled at me: “I don’t like dat, Mommy! Throw it in the garbage!” When I told her that wasn’t going to happen, she got very upset: “What?! You’re not taking it off, Mommy?” I was forced to placate her with fruit snacks and a Max and Ruby video, to make up for my “defiance” of her request. But alternatively, I scored points by purchasing a new “pokie”-dotted bra that Jayda thinks I look “bootiful” in…and believes I should wear “every day!” She even likes to check to see if I am following her advice (and, as I mentioned before, it’s a good thing I do my laundry very often!).

Fortunately, along with the bra, there are plenty of things in my closet Jayda does like—especially shirts that are pink or purple. And when she looks through my clothes, my daughter likes to remind me, “when I get bigger and bigger, I’ll wear these, too, ok?” Sounds fine to me…it would sure save us shopping time…and a heck of a lot of money!