Thank you to NetGalley, Clavis Publishing, and Clavis for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

This was such a fun adventure from start to end. Sofia was an amazing main character and I hope that the author writes more adventures like this one!!!

I also thought that the art style was absolutely adorable.

Captain Sofia by An Leysen is a fun, little tale about a young girl with a vivid imagination. Every night when Sofia goes to bed, she dreams she is someone or something else. In this book, she dreams she is a pirate, riding the waves in the sea. Swash-buckling, sword fighting and fun fill the the pages of this book as Sofia lives out the life of a fearless pirate. The illustrations are beautiful. They are done in muted pastel colors giving that dreamlike appearance. My granddaughter enjoyed hearing about Sofia and immediately wanted to go downstairs and find a sword to play with. We found an old hat to decorate and she became a pirate for awhile sword fighting all her stuffed animals. I read an ebook, advanced copy so did not have the musical accompaniment. There are going to be buttons on the hardcover copy that will play snipits of classical music from Ludwig van Beethoven, to complement the text and action on the page. I think it is important that children be exposed to classical music and I hope this would whet their appetite to listen to some of the famous composers highlighted in this series, "Classic Fantastic". This was a fun book and I would love to read others in this series.

Captain Sofia is an illustrated book that will come with buttons that you can press to hear classical music along side the story. The below review is only reflective of the illustrations and story without the musical additions.

This is an adorable adventure book about a young girl named Sofia. She is full of imagination and when she closes her eyes her imagination bursts to life. This time she imagines being a pirate and her journey is told through these pages. The illustrations are beautifully done, vibrant, and action-packed. There is focus on her outfit, a small boat, another priate, a sea monster, a mermaid, and tresure. The story is so much fun.

I read this as an e-book with a 4 year old and she really enjoyed it. She followed along with a lot of interest and really liked the illustrations. She wanted to know what was coming next and we talked about being a pirate and finding treasure afterward. I can't wait to see this book in its full glory with all the press buttons for the musical accompaniments. I think that will add another fun component to it all.

If you are looking for an adventure for your young reader, this would be a nice addition if you also don't mind some classical music as well.

Captain Sofia is a little girl who goes on adventures every night in her dreams and tonight she is a pirate. She is a strong character depicted in absolutely beautiful illustrations by An Leysen; such a skilful artist! Sofia's adventures are cleverly accompanied by the classical music of Ludwig Beethoven. I had access to an ebook from Netgalley and music from Clavis Publishing but I can imagine that this book as an interactive experience with a child will be amazing!! I found that the artist's imagination was complimented perfectly by the music and explored the illustrations and listened to the music over and over. Unfortunately the choice of words for the target audience were too complex, the sentence structure too convoluted and the flow of the story between events was poorly executed. I see the potential for this book as a visual and audio addition to a child's bookshelf and will be researching more of this amazing work from An Leysen as I would like to incorporate her mixture of art and music in a picture book into our library Storytimes.

I really enjoyed the idea of listening to classical music while reading a book and I love that it is incorporated into the story. I think it is really important to encourage children to use their imagination at a young age and this book does that perfectly. It has lovely illustrations and encourages children to be brave even when they are in scary situations.
I highly recommend this book.

I preface this by saying I was reading a galley without all the bells and whistles, otherwise this might have been higher. The author matches the music of Beethoven to a story of a girl's adventures in her dream. A dream of being a pirate, meeting mermaids, and finding buried treasure. Each page has some music that is supposed to be played while reading, as well as other sounds (those are missing in the galley). The story is great and I think it will work great with the music that was picked (it’s all listed in the back). I also like that a mini biography of Beethoven was included at the end.

I love the concept of this title. It fuses a story with music by Beethoven. Readers of the published version of this title will be able to listen to some music snippets as they look at and read the story. This seems like a nice way to introduce young ones to some classical music.

Children who lie in bed creating stories will surely relate to Sofia who imagines that she is a pirate. Her adventures form the core of this nicely illustrated title. There are a sea monsters, a mermaid and even a treasure. So much fun for one evening.

Of note is that there are a playlist and some information about Beethoven at the end of the book.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this title. All opinions are my own.

Captain Sofia by An Leysen is a lovely story of imagination. She is brave and strong. She can be so many things in her mind. The illustrations add to the story of play pretend and sweet joy.

I will note the copy I received was digital, and hence we did not have the option to press buttons to play the music. Had we, my review of the book might have been different. I have yet to find a book with audio buttons which wasn’t annoying.

This book was so fun! I love the idea that she has these amazing adventures in her dreams. I also love that it describes her as brave and strong. Lastly, the Beethoven explanation and education at the end was cool. I just wish I could have heard the music while I read along! Well done!

Loved this book! I love Beethoven's music, the excerpts that were chosen for each page were beautiful. I love that this book is introducing young children to classical music. Symphony No. 5 is one of my favorites!

Highly recommend this book to anyone that enjoys a swash buckling tale on the high seas with fantastic music!

Sofia every night when she closes her eyes whatever she imagines becomes real. Tonight Sofia is a brave pirate captain sailing the Sevens Seas searching for treasure. Will she find it before she opens her eyes again?
This was a lovely tale of imagination. I would recommend this book to my students.

*This review is from a free ARC on NetGalley in return for an honest review.

Super cute! Perfect for little fans of Peter Pan. It has pirates, mermaids, and pretty art. What more can you ask for in a children's book?

Special thanks to NetGalley for providing a digital copy in exchange for an honest review

I unfortunately did not have a physical copy of this (but I would LOVE one) so at first I was blown away by the story and the illustrations. The illustrations were straight up ART and completely took my breath away. I was a little confused by the seeming random switch to talking about Beethoven but then realized the sounds I couldn’t hear were his music. I really imagine that just adds a whole other level to the art captured in this book! I hope I get to see it all together so I can get the full effect.

What a wonderfully fantastic adventure! Not only to we meet a fierce pirate but also discover some beautiful music that is hauntingly magnificent. Children should be exposed to more of the classics but this is a great start that will hopefully wet their appetite to listen to all famous composers. And children should be allowed to let their imaginations soar!
I received an advanced reader copy for free from NetGalley and am voluntarily leaving my review.

I was provided with an eARC of this book in exchange for a fair review.

Unfortunately, the musical element of this book didn't want to work in the eARC edition. However, the story is a lot of fun, and the illustrations are lovely. A perfect book for a pirate-loving little one!

Captain Sofia by An Leysen is a fun, little tale about a very interesting pirate!

Sofia has a great imagination, and at night it gets to work! She dreams she is a pirate, riding the waves in the sea. Swash-buckling, sword fighting and fun fills the the pages of this book as Sofia figures out the life of a pirate.

I do really like the illustrations. It reminds me of pastels which is always very beautiful.

This is also apparently a musical book? I only have a digital advanced reader's copy so I cannot get this to work, but that's definitely a bonus! It lets the reader learn about Ludwig van Beethoven which gets me all excited!

Overall, this is a sweet and fun book!

Three out of five stars.

Thank you to NetGalley and Clavis Publishing for providing me a free copy of this book in exchange of an honest review.

This was a cute and lovely read!

This picture book followed a girl named Sofia who imagines herself having adventures on the sea while she is drifting off to sleep. A lot of kids have vivid imaginations and imagine different scenarios when trying to sleep so I think this would be fun and relatable to children! I enjoyed the art style and the kind of watercolor style, I really would have loved to be able to listen to the music in the book, and I think that will make the final edition even more enjoyable to read! The one audio excerpt on the NetGalley page seemed to go well with the book, so I imagine the other audio segments included will go with it as well! (rating: 4.5/5)

Now that's some sea adventure and some good imagination!

I wish I could listen to the audio sounds that comes along with the narration.

The illustration is so well done. Watercolors, pencil colours and crayons all mixed well to create a fantasy world!

I love Sofie.

Thank you authors and Publisher for the advance reading copy.

I can't wait to read this book and listen to Beethoven's classical music at the same time.
I also like this idea that the little girl who wanted to become a captain and had adventures in the sea.

What a delightful children’s book! I wish I had an imagination like that. The pictures are charming - our favourite character was the mermaid.