The Reluctant Flower Girl [Hardcover]

Lynne Barasch (Author, Illustrator)

Book Description

Age Level: 5 and up | Grade Level: K and up

April can't believe her big sister, Annabel--her best friend--is about to get married and leave her!

Not even getting to be the flower girl in the wedding keeps April from doing everything she can to convince Harold, Annabel's fiance, not to marry her sister.

But before April knows it, the big day arrives. Soon Annabel will be saying, "I do" --or does April have one last chance to stop the wedding?

Lynne Barasch's funny, insightful book about the special bond between sisters is sure to give young readers--and their older siblings--cause for celebration.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Barasch (Radio Rescue) gets to the heart of a girl's jumble of feelings regarding her sister's wedding with both humor and honesty. Saddened at the prospect of seeing her older sister (and best friend) Annabel get married and leave home, April does everything she can to sabotage the big day. A series of vignettes shows the girl attempting to plant seeds of doubt in the prospective groom: "Annabel snores every night," she fibs to Harold; "She wets the bed, too" (he reacts with a laugh). She even ties his shoelaces together at the wedding rehearsal. When Harold turns the tables on her, however, April begins to realize she's not losing a sister but gaining a kindred spirit for a brother. In the end, she saves the day when Annabel's ring is accidentally lost during the ceremony. Barasch strikes just the right note in this lighthearted tale, limning the bonds of sisterhood and the bittersweet inevitability of change with poignantly comical strokes. She demonstrates the red-headed sisters' affection with charming details their penchant for sneaking Mallomars into their bedroom at night, April proudly displaying Annabel at show-and-tell then exposes April's mounting tension with her response to fashion disasters at the wedding dress store ("You look like a stack of pancakes!" she says). The sprightly watercolors are as airy as a bridal veil. A must for any girl about to walk down the aisle.Ages 4-8.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

PreSchool-Grade 2-April feels as though she'll be losing her best friend when her big sister Annabel announces that she's getting married. Asked to be the flower girl, the child has little interest in the arrangements and plays tricks on the fianc?, trying to convince him to change his mind. However, April ends up saving the wedding and learns that instead of losing her sister she's gaining a brother. Appealing cartoon illustrations wedded with the lighthearted text make for a satisfying story.
Debbie Stewart, Grand Rapids Public Library, MI
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 5 and up
  
• Hardcover: 40 pages
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers; 1st edition (May 22, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060288094
• ISBN-13: 978-0060288099
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 9.3 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.1 ounces
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,969,045 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

For as long as I can remember, drawing was what I did best. I hoped that art school would help me eventually find a way to use this. On the other hand, writing is something I never planned to do. Although I was an enthusiastic and indiscriminate reader from the time I was very young I never thought of writing as an occupation until my five year old daughter had an adventure. On her second day of For kindergarten she got on the wrong bus and went to the wrong school. After she was safe and sound again at home, I thought this would make a great story. And so, THE BUS FUSS was born. It was never published, but I was hooked.
Over the next several years many books followed. My ideas flooded in and came from people I knew. Everything I saw seemed to suggest another story.
RADIO RESCUE is the story of my father's ham radio days in 1920s New York City. My endless interviews with him gave me a window into his life that otherwise would not have been open.
HIROMI'S HANDS is the story of my daughter's childhood Japanese American friend whose father trained her to be a Sushi chef. I met Hiromi as an adorable, shy five year old child and came to know her well over the next eighteen years.
KNOCKIN' ON WOOD is the story of Peg Leg Bates. the one legged dancer. I first saw him on television on the Ed Sullivan show and wrote his story many years later after hearing my daughter's tap teacher talk about the great tappers he knew.
A COUNTRY SCHOOLHOUSE tells the story of my husband's school days in a three room schoolhouse in Dutchess country in the 1940s. I had listened to his amusing anecdotes about this for years and finally wrote them down.
Not all my stories are nonfiction. OLD FRIENDS is the story of an old lady who recognizes her childhood friend in the form of a dog. Sometime after writing this story, much to my surprise, I realized that the old lady was a perfect description of my own grandmother!
Telling stories and making pictures gives me great joy. When words and pictures work well together they form something new, something greater than the sum of its parts. I look forward to bringing many more stories to life in this way.