I Gotta Be ME!! Ladybug Girl and the Dress-Up Dilemma by David Soman

What to wear for Halloween? It's the perennial question. But Lulu hasn't given it much thought. After all, she is Ladybug Girl!

"AGAIN?" SAYS HER BROTHER. YOU'RE ALWAYS LADYBUG GIRL!

"YOU SHOULD BE SOMETHING DIFFERENT!"

It's an arresting thought for Lulu, who has to admit that her brother is right. Maybe she should find a new costume for Halloween.

She collects some boxes and puts together a robot costume. But it's too boxy. She can't even get out the door for trick-or-treating wearing that! How about some facepaint to turn her into a vampire panda! Her brother pronounces that the silliest idea ever.

She puts together an outfit of the Little Tramp from silent movie days, complete with baggy pants, Derby, and a little mascara mustache. Pretty good! she thinks as she studies herself in the mirror. But...

"A SILENT MOVIE STAR CAN'T ASK FOR CANDY!"

Just as Lulu realizes the costume's fatal flaw, her parents call them to get ready for the annual expedition to the apple orchard and pumpkin patch, so Lulu puts on her customary Ladybug dress and wings and heads out for some apple-picking, on the lookout for an inspiration for a different costume while she's at the farm. Scarecrow? Pumpkin? But they've all been done!

Then on her solitary trek through the corn maze, Lulu is distracted by a small girl who is obviously hopelessly lost from her family. How to help?

"THIS IS A JOB FOR LADYBUG GIRL!"

Ta-Da! Lulu's dog Bingo notices right away that the little girl has a half-eaten bag of popcorn, and taking her hand, Lulu leads her back along the trail of dropped popcorn the way she came, with Bingo taking care of any "littering" as they go.

It's another problem winningly solved by Ladybug Girl, and Lulu decides to stay in character for trick-or-treat after all, in David Soman's latest in his best-selling series, Ladybug Girl and the Dress-up Dilemma (Dial Books, 2015). Soman's storytelling is succinct and well-paced, as the Halloween rituals unfold while Lulu deals with disturbing thoughts of breaking out of her usual persona, and his evocative illustrations of the harvest scene and the throngs of costume-clad trick-or-treaters are as charming and filled with eye-catching detail as ever. "Soman's watercolors are right at home with autumn's muted hues ... helping make this thoughtful story another winner for Ladybug Girl." says Publishers Weekly.

Tutti de Tutus: Too Many Tutus by Jane O'Connor

Nancy Clancy's closet is too, too tight.

MY CLOSET IS BULGING. (THAT IS A FANCY WAY TO SAY THAT THE DOOR WILL NOT CLOSE.)

"YOU HAVE TOO MANY TUTUS," MY MOM TELLS ME.

Of course, there is no such thing as too many accessories for Fancy Nancy. Still, she see the virtues of  a closet door that will close.  Little sister JoJo is happy to take one outgrown tutu off her hands.  But Nancy draws the line at donating more than two tutus.

At school the next day Ms. Glass has the perfect solution to the Clancy closet problem. The class will have a Swap Shop day. Students will receive a point for each item they donate, which they can "spend" at the shop to buy swapped merchandise. OOO LA LA!! Nancy likes any activity that has the word "shop" in it somewhere, and with this incentive she assembles a treasure trove of cast-off finery to donate to the Swap Shop, earning fifteen points for her donations.

But push comes to shove the next day when Nancy and her nemesis Grace both covet the same beautiful green tutu with double tulle tiers and bows. Grace gets to it first, but Nancy is in luck--Grace only has five points  and the tutu is priced at seven!

"HA! MINE!" I SAY. 

I START TO TAKE THE TUTU FROM GRACE.  BUT SHE LOOKS MISERABLE.

THAT MAKES ME FEEL BAD.

Nancy knows what it's like to have a case of the tutu blues, and her altruism wins out over tutu mania.

MISS GLASS TAKES ME ASIDE AND SAYS, "THAT WAS VERY THOUGHTFUL."
(THOUGHTFUL IS FANCY FOR KIND.)

"YOU ARE GROWING UP IN LOTS OF WAYS."

It's a rare primary grade girl today whose closet doesn't boast two to ten tutus. For different reasons, both parents and tutu enthusiasts will empathize with Nancy's too many tutus dilemma in Jane O'Connor's latest I-Can-Read tale, Fancy Nancy: Too Many Tutus (I Can Read Book 1) (Harper, 2013). Nancy may be a pint-sized fashionista, but she also has a good heart and shows it when she shares the tutu treasure with her classmate. As always, the characters devised by O'Connor and original artist Robin Preiss Glasser are ably illustrated by Ted Enik in the newest in this too-too terrific beginning reader series.