Imagine a world so severe that you are forbidden to smile. Take a journey to Grimly Valley where a young girl, Sonrieta, must stifle her smiling and giggling. In this thoroughly captivating book, Sonrieta, by Robert Brooks, all the nonconformists including Sonrieta are sent to the Frowning Tower of Grim to be reeducated. Sonrieta meets a diverse group of people at the Frowning Tower, who support each other and draw on their own strengths. Meet Pablo the poet who loves to make up words, Oscar, the frustrated musician, Antoine, the aging artist, and Petunia, the generous gardener. Together they plan to rescue Sonrieta's parents and the villagers from the grimness of Grimly Valley. Anyone who appreciates the arts will be inspired by this charming book. Sonrieta demonstrates the power of positive attitude and friendship. The author's pacing and intriguing plot will keep readers spellbound until the end. Highly recommended (ages 6 & up)
I found the story to be a classic Fairy Tale. The story is wonderful for teaching tolerance and many of the literary elements. It is filled with beautiful descriptions and rich vocabulary. Most young children are looking for the happy ending and the story surely delivers.
Flows nicely and is unique and entertaining.
This book for children is a tale of a young girl, Sonrieta, who through an adventure and the meeting of new people brings her own special nature to others and helps change her community for the better. Sonrieta is born with hearing problems and as a result of this disability develops a personality that is not in keeping with her community. In fact her personality is so non-traditional that she has to be separated from her parents and “put away” so that she can be cured, i.e. made to conform. While being “cured” she meets other non-conformists and to make a short story shorter, these other individuals help Sonrieta discover new things about herself and vice versa. Together the group then helps the community in which they live change and become something new and better. I found this a very charming tale about the importance of being true to one’s feelings, discovering individual talents and that every now and then it is important to question why things are they way they are in a community. This story is told in a gentle manner and is recommended as a book for parents to read along with beginning readers or as light reading for the more advanced young reader.
I have read Sonrieta a few times through now and found the story to be engaging, creative, and unique. You have quite a penchant for developing interesting well-rounded characters and creating a visually vivid setting to place them in. Reading Sonrieta I actually was transported to the Grimly Valley and by way of your precise descriptions, felt myself becoming a member of their unfortunate society as well. You have also done a wonderful job of creating a narrative arc that really carries the reader from an intriguing start to a satisfying finish. When I completed Sonrieta, I found both my mood and spirit lifted.
Sonrieta is a story about a little girl who lives in Grimly Valley. As the story begins Sonrieta is a happy baby girl who likes to smile, but smiling isn't allowed in Grimly Valley. In Grimly Valley it was very honorable to be serious and grim. Why even the colors were grim and three shades paler than it really was! Grimlanders didn't notice beautiful flowers, colors, trees or even birds.
As Sonreita grew from a baby to a little girl she loved birds, beautiful flowers and playful dogs...and she smiled and squealed with delight. Smiles and squeals were a definite no no in Grimly Valley and a horror to her parents! As time passed, Sonrieta was taken from her parents by the Guards of the Grimmest Way to the Frowning Tower of Grim. In the Frowning Tower of Grim were people who never achieve grimness and are kept out of sight. Sonrieta meets Petunia, who loves flowers, Antoine, who loves to paint, Oscar, who loves music, Grace, who loves to dance, and Pablo, the poet.
Pablo teaches Sonrieta to read and write and discovers that she cannot hear! In time, the friends come together, discovering the magic of song, dance, hugs,kisses and smiles. Together, they decide to approach Ms. Prune, their teacher of grimnness, and change Grimly Valley forever. Sonrieta misses her parents terribly. Sonrieta and the friends decide to leave the Tower to parade in Grimly Valley.
With Oscar's music, everyone dancing, flowers everywhere, smiles galore,there came strong reactions from the townspeople. Sonrieta had written a great poem and everyone gathered around listening, frozen with shock. Guards of the Grimest Way, The Great Grim and his council ran for away from Grimly Valley as residents stepped forward smiling, hearts filling with happiness.
This is a quaint story with an underlying moral that simple beautiful things such as music, poems, flowers, dance and special friends can make us smile, fill our hearts with happiness and turn away grimness.
