Sophie Simon Solves Them All

By Lisa Graff and Jason Beene

For a third-grader, Sophie Simon is one smart cookie. She enjoys teaching herself advanced calculus and has performed successful heart surgery on an earthworm. She's also very clever when it comes to dealing with her clueless parents. But Sophie is no genius when it comes to calculating the high value of friendship--until, that is, she has to use her incredible IQ to help out some classmates with their own parental troubles.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Macmillan Publishers
• Release date: Sep 28, 2010
• ISBN: 9781429951814

Lisa Graff

Lisa Graff is the author of The Life and Crimes of Bernetta Wallflower and The Thing About Georgie, which was named to nine state reading lists. Lisa grew up in a small California town very much like the one in this novel and received an MFA in writing for children from the New School.

Book preview

A Genius with a Problem

Every morning as they walked to the bus stop, Sophie Simon and her parents had the same conversation.

Have fun at school today, lamb chop, her mother would say, straightening out Sophie’s blouse.

And Sophie would wrinkle her cute button nose at her mother and tell her, School is not for fun. It’s for learning.

But that Friday morning, instead of simply patting Sophie on the head and nodding, Sophie’s parents did something that surprised her.

Snickerdoodle, Sophie’s father replied, your mother and I have been thinking. Perhaps today you might try to make some friends.

Sophie tugged at the straps of her backpack. No, thank you, she said. I don’t need friends.

But, walnut, Sophie’s mother said, taking hold of her hand as they crossed the street. Don’t you even want one or two friends? All of the other children seem to have them.

That’s true, said Sophie’s father.

Sophie scowled at her parents.

She was not like other children.

Sophie Simon was a genius.

By the time Sophie Simon was two, she could recite the alphabet backwards and forwards. The Russian alphabet.

By the time she was four, Sophie had dismantled her parents’ broken toaster and turned it into a working radio.

And at the age of seven, Sophie had successfully performed open-heart surgery on an earthworm in the front yard.

Since earthworms have five hearts each, this was a pretty difficult task.

You would think that having a genius for a daughter would have made Sophie’s parents delighted.

It did not.

Aileen and Maxwell Simon worried that their daughter wasn’t well-adjusted.

They were always quoting the famed child expert Doctor Wanda, who told parents on her TV show that the worst thing they could do was push their children to grow up too quickly.

To Sophie’s parents, growing up too quickly meant doing anything Sophie found interesting.

If Sophie crafted a working robot out of toothpicks and rubber bands, her parents sighed and told her that well-adjusted children made birdhouses.

If Sophie taught herself to speak Japanese from a textbook, her parents shook their heads and said that well-adjusted children spoke pig Latin.

And if Sophie composed her own concerto on the neighbor’s grand piano, her parents rubbed their temples and complained that well-adjusted children played the kazoo.

Sometimes Sophie wondered if maybe her parents weren’t really her parents. Maybe, Sophie thought, she had been switched with another baby in the hospital. A well-adjusted baby. Maybe her real parents were out in the world somewhere right now, wondering why their daughter wanted to play with dolls instead of encyclopedias.

But really, Sophie knew that the people who walked her to the bus stop every morning were her real parents. Because Sophie had her mother’s wavy hair, blond like straw. And she had her father’s blue eyes, and the same curvy earlobes. So she most definitely had not been switched at

Reviews for Sophie Simon Solves Them All

[jlaurendine-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Sophie Simon isn't interested in anything the typical third grader is interested in. She likes calculus and reading, and has no interest in making friends. She would rather be learning. Through the course of the book, Sophie learns that friends may not be so bad, and how to help her classmates. It's a great book for third graders, with a recipe added to the back that ties in with the story.

[prkcs · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Sophie Simon, a third-grade genius, wants a graphing calculator so she can continue to study calculus while she rides the bus to school, but her parents are more concerned that she does not have any friends.