I love Robin Preiss Glasser's illustrations, and I'm a big fan of Judith Viorst's most famous book, Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, which may be why I was disappointed with this book -- it just doesn't live up to Alexander. I probably would have liked Super-Completely and Totally the Messiest more if I hadn't been comparing it to Alexander. ( )

This story is about two sisters Olivia and Sophie, who is super completely and totally the messiest. the illustrations are colorful. ( )

Summary:
The book is being told by her neat sister Olivia talking about her little sister named Sophie who is super completely and totally the messiest at everything she touches, tries to help, going to a birthday party and ruins her outfit and the present before she gets there. Her room is totally messy, you can not get on her bed, or her dresser, her closet and her floor. In the end, Olivia would bet she will never be perfect like her but one day she will stop forgetting to try NOT to be so super completely and totally the Messiest.

Personal Reaction:
Made me laugh for this reminds me of my oldest daughter room and bathroom and my little girls room. I have to shut the door and let them be themselves.

Classroom extensions:
1. In the classroom, I will read this and reassure them to always do your best and be yourself.
2. In addition, ask them what could they do to help with their room or around the house also, for homework: to go home ask family what it is about them that their family likes. And tell a story. ( )

Loved the pictures, hated the text! While I was super-completely excited to read this book to my son, a few pages in I totally started regretting it and for me it turned into a seriously tedious read-aloud. I wasn't sure why at first. True, I haven't read much by [a:Judith Viorst|3080|Judith Viorst|http://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1201030839p2/3080.jpg], but we loved [b:Alexander|150627|Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day|Judith Viorst|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1355079784s/150627.jpg|1086647] and used to quote him a lot actually when we were having those Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Days. But then it struck me that although this may work in [b:Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day|150627|Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day|Judith Viorst|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1355079784s/150627.jpg|1086647], the same stylistic ruse is here used to describe Sophie's (and at the same time Olivia's, in a way) antics, and it just gets very old, very quick. I totally bore with the repetition, the exaggerations and the monotonous, long winded, never ending whining of Alexander, because I thought it served the purpose of transporting us into his skin, into his head and helped us empathize with his plight. But here, whether it's because the culprit is not the one telling the story or not, this gets aggravating and it even occurred to me if the book could have just done without the text and been wordless, as the pictures tell most of the story anyway. And here's what I liked about the book: [a:Robin Preiss Glasser's|730253|Robin Preiss Glasser|http://www.goodreads.com/assets/nophoto/nophoto-F-50x66-2a9d702c2a0f483c9f7dd119cc28a9a7.jpg] illustrations are fantastic. They're busy for sure (after all we're dealing with the super-completely and totally messiest sister on earth), but color is used for emphasis to draw out the plot essentials. I notice that the same technique has been applied in a 2009 version of [b:Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day|6948574|Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day|Judith Viorst|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1348430392s/6948574.jpg|1086647]. Incidentally, illustrator [a:Robin Preiss Glasser|730253|Robin Preiss Glasser|http://www.goodreads.com/assets/nophoto/nophoto-F-50x66-2a9d702c2a0f483c9f7dd119cc28a9a7.jpg] created the pictures of [b:the last one in the Alexander trilogy|232127|Alexander, Who's Not (Do You Hear Me? I Mean It!) Going to Move|Judith Viorst|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1347438789s/232127.jpg|1907234] in the style of [a:Ray Cruz|135834|Ray Cruz|http://www.goodreads.com/assets/nophoto/nophoto-U-50x66-251a730d696018971ef4a443cdeaae05.jpg].

So, unless you think you can handle the horrible, and much too wordy text, avoid this as a read aloud. This book could still work for kids doing their own reading however, while you read it silently you'll just tend to gloss over all the repetition, and that's fine I guess. The same applies to all the Fancy Nancy books, so charmingly illustrated by Glasser again, but so exasperating to read even if the stories aren't too bad.

Actually, never mind the text: the pictures alone make it worthwhile to pick up this book, so I'm rating it 3 stars. And if you like [a:Robin Preiss Glasser|730253|Robin Preiss Glasser|http://www.goodreads.com/assets/nophoto/nophoto-F-50x66-2a9d702c2a0f483c9f7dd119cc28a9a7.jpg] as much as I do, you may also want to check out the Balloon series ... ( )

Olivia has a very messy sister named Sophie. She is super-completely and totally the messiest girl. But despite all of her messes she is a nice, smart and funny little girl. This book is somewhat repetitive and uses many describing words. It is recommended for grades 1st-3rd.