Flower Power: The Very Fairy Princess: Here Comes the Flower Girl by Julie Andrews

I'M GERALDINE. I'M A VERY FAIRY PRINCESS.

HARDLY ANYONE BELIEVES ME, BUT I HAVE A SPARKLY FEELING INSIDE THAT TELLS ME IT'S TRUE.

TODAY I GOT SOME FANTASTIC NEWS. MY AUNT SUE IS GETTING MARRIED.

AND GUESS WHAT? I GET TO BE THE FLOWER GIRL!

PERFECT!!

Instantly Geraldine's fairy fantasy is off and running. She imagines a real fairy tale wedding in an elegant castle, with herself, gowned in flowing, flowery white, with a circlet of roses on her lovely hair, wearing her fairy wings, of course, and parading down the aisle amid crowds of guests as the star of the grand production.

Reality, however, is not quite up to her vision.

THAT'S NOT ACTUALLY THE WAY IT'S GOING TO BE," SAYS MOM.

It seems Aunt Sue and her fiance Mr. Flannigan envisage a more down-to-earth scenario--a backyard wedding and in Gerry's own backyard at that. Aunt Sue opts for a plain lemon cake, with no tiers adorned with marzipan roses.

Gerry's exotic fancies collapse, but at least there is that full-skirted flower girl fantasy gown to dream of, and Geraldine pins her hopes on that. But again, the reality is a bit more prosaic:

IT'S PLAIN WHITE COTTON WITH HOLES IN IT.

AUNT SUE SAYS IT'S "EYELET," LIKE HER DRESS.

I THINK IT'S MORE OF AN EYESORE.

Daddy mows the lawn; Mom grooms the garden plants, and brother Stephen practices his trumpet for the wedding march, while Geraldine tries to trim her aspirations, taking comfort in the hope that at least she can put her stamp on her handmade decorations.

And then on the big day--

IT'S RAINING! ALL MY DECORATIONS ARE A SOGGY MESS.

WHAT A DISASTER!

Can even a very fairy princess rise above it all and lend her special sparkle to this event?

Well, such unsinkable storybook flower girls as Barbara Parks' Junie B. Jones, Kevin Henkes' Lilly, and Charise Mericle Harper's Just Grace have done it in their own inimitable way, and we just know that Geraldine will strap on her pink wings and tiara and a big smile and give Aunt Sue's wedding a suitably sparkly sendoff, in Julie Andrews' and Emma Hamilton's latest, The Very Fairy Princess: Here Comes the Flower Girl! (Little, Brown, 2012). Artist Christine Davenier again brings her own fairy-dusted illustrations to the task for a wedding no one will forget, especially fans of this very fairy princess.

Other books in this popular series are The Very Fairy Princess and The Very Fairy Princess Takes the Stage.