[ 책 소개 ]

* A Child Magazine Best Book of 2001


Eileen Spinelli(글)과 Jane Dyer(그림) 콤비가 "When Mama Comes Home Tonight"에 이어 다시 손을 잡고 만든 아름답고 감동적인 그림책입니다. 국내에서는 "소피의 달빛 담요"라는 제목으로 번역서가 출간된 명작 그림책입니다.

소피는 여느 거미들과는 달리 예술가입니다. 다른 거미들은 먹이를 잡기 위해 거미줄을 치지만, 소피는 자신의 거미줄로 꽃문양, 체크문양, 리본문양 등 아름다운 형태를 만들고, 단지 먹이를 잡기 위해 거미줄을 치는 것이 아니라 침대와 같이 다른 용도의 물건들을 만들기도 합니다.

성장해서 부모님과 독립할 때가 되자, 소피는 비크먼씨의 하숙집으로 이사를 갑니다. 소피는 낡은 하숙집을 아름답게 장식하기 위해 창가에서 공들여서 황금빛의 커텐을 만들지만 집주인은 거미를 보고는 질색을 하고 쫓아 버립니다.

노인을 위해 예쁜 하늘색의 옷을 만들어도, 요리사를 위해 한 켤레의 슬리퍼를 만들어도, 모두 거미를 보고는 질색을 하고 쫓아 버리네요.

소피는 3층에서 혼자사는 젊은 부인의 방에 머물게 되고, 부인은 소피를 내쫓는 대신, 따뜻한 미소를 짓습니다. 세월이 흘러 소피는 늙고 힘이 없는 거미가 되어 하루종일 잠만 잡니다.

젊은 부인은 뜨게질을 하면서 새로 태어날 아기의 양말과 스웨터를 만듭니다. 하지만 가난한 부인은 아기의 담요를 만들기 위한 털실을 살 돈이 없었습니다. 하숙집 주인은 낡고 더러운 담요를 가져다 주지만, 소피는 그 담요가 새로 태어날 아기에게 적당하지 않다는 것을 압니다.

소피는 새로 태어날 아기를 위해 자신의 생애에 있어서 가장 보람되고 가장 아름다운 걸작을 만들기로 결심합니다. 반짝반짝 빛나는 별과 눈꽃송이가 수놓아진 아름다운 담요를 혼신의 힘을 다 쏟아가며 만들기 시작하지요...






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Paperback: 32 pages
ISBN-10: 0689866801
ISBN-13: 978-0689866807
책 크기 : 27.8 cm x 21.5 cm



[ 영문 서평 ]

Book Description
Sophie is an artist who wants to spin beautiful creations all day long and, someday, a masterpiece. As a spider, though, Sophie has a hard time finding a welcoming place in which she can be free to live and spin. She's shooed and shuffled all over Beekman's Boardinghouse until one day she finally finds the warm, comfortable, safe home for which she always yearned, and the inspiration for the masterpiece of her lifetime.


Publishers Weekly
A tender-hearted arachnid-shown here as a blond with a human face, two arms and six colorfully stockinged legs-weaves a work of art for a grateful mother-to-be. "Spinelli and Dyer's tale of devotion and generosity is as delicately woven as Sophie's own work," wrote PW.


Children's Literature
Sophie, a spider with the heart of an artist, strikes off to find her place in the wide world. She ends up at Beekman's Boardinghouse, a shabby old house obviously in need of her talents. But her new parlor curtains are not appreciated; neither is her new suit of clothes for the gray old captain. In desperation Sophie climbs the stairs to the room of a destitute expecting mother. Sophie's age is beginning to tell on her, but she manages the strength for one final project뾞 lovely gift of herself that is finally accepted. Spinelli's tale is sweet and touching, and Dyer's delicate watercolors do more than just grace the words뾲hey create a believable fairy tale heroine.


School Library Journal
Even as a youngster, Sophie is identified as a master weaver. When it comes time for her to strike out on her own, she lands at a less than impressive boarding house. As she sees the run-down condition of her new abode, the young house spider sets out to make her world a better place. However, the plebeian landlady doesn't appreciate the newcomer's attempt at weaving a new set of curtains and shows no tolerance toward spiders in her house. Sophie proceeds to have a number of less than felicitous encounters with various boarders who similarly do not appreciate her handiwork. It is not until she is aged and weary that she enters the room of a young woman who isn't bothered by her presence. Curious, Sophie watches as she begins to knit baby booties and realizes that she is pregnant. Observing that the young woman appears friendless and quite poor, Sophie begins work upon her final masterpiece-a baby blanket. She completes her work and comes to the end of her life just as she hears the cry of the newborn infant. Expressive watercolors capture the quirky yet poignant spirit of this tale. The scenes of the aged Sophie and the new mother and child are particularly luminous. This endearing spider should rid even the most fearful individuals of their arachnophobia.-Rosalyn Pierini


Child Magazine
Artistic Sophie is "no ordinary house spider." Alas, her talents for weaving are unappreciated at Beekman's Boardinghouse, until she befriends a penniless young woman whose newborn baby needs a blanket. With delicate watercolors to capture its beauty and poignancy, this tale is as deftly spun as one of Sophie's splendid creations.


Kirkus Reviews
The creators of When Mama Comes Home Tonight (1998) weave another affecting tale, in which a gentle, eight-legged artist spends her last strength on a gift to a newborn baby. Though Sophie's ingeniously patterned webs are the delight of her Mama and playmates, when she moves into a drab boarding house, its residents react to her presence with fear and disgust. Most of its residents, that is -- weary and aging, Sophie finds a home and quiet welcome at last when she crawls into an expectant young mother's yarn basket. Sophie's webs, all finer than the finest lace, ripple with stars, flowers, and geometric patterns in Dyer's delicately detailed watercolors. She herself cuts a stylish bohemian figure, with long, slender legs in multicolored stockings radiating from a black body topped by a flaxen-haired human head. Learning that the young woman is too poor to knit or buy a blanket, Sophie gathers strands of moonlight, wisps of night and pine, old lullabies, snowflakes, and, last of all, her own heart to create a gift that the new mother receives with "love and wonderment." Sophie may physically resemble the proud, angry protagonist of Kate Hovey's Arachne Speaks (2000), but her generosity of spirit gives her a very different character.