THE RELUCTANT FLOWER GIRL
by Lynne Barasch & illustrated by Lynne Barasch
April’s big sister Annabel is her best friend, even though she’s older. “Once I brought Annabel to my school for show-and-tell,” she confides. “And once she brought me to her office to staple papers together.” But when Annabel’s boyfriend Harold proposes, April is pretty upset. Even though she gets to be flower girl and help Annabel pick out her wedding dress, she tries to sabotage the whole thing in regular kid ways: she spills ketchup on Harold and hides her pet snake in the bathroom when he goes to clean up. But the day of the wedding, when the ring pops from the best man’s hand to roll out of sight, it’s April who spots it and saves the day. And when she goes up to her now single room, she finds a very loving note from her sister and her husband, promising sleepovers—and mallomars. The illustrations are energetic ink-and-watercolors, full of roses and wedding paraphernalia, and the sisters, while far apart in age, share red hair and impish expressions. Pair with Gary Soto’s Snapshots from the Wedding (1997) for a child’s-eye look at a family celebration. (Picture book. 4-8)