Never A Flower Girl? Fancy Nancy and the Wedding of the Century by Jane O'Connor

MY UNCLE CAL CALLED! HE'S GETTING MARRIED!

WEDDINGS ARE SUCH SPECIAL OCCASIONS. (OCCASION IS A FANCY WORLD FOR SPECIAL EVENT.)

I'VE PLANNED SO MANY WEDDINGS, AND NOW I'M GOING TO A REAL ONE!

Nancy's head is filled with visions of herself strewing rose petals before an elegantly gowned bride and tuxedoed groom. She packs up her laciest, frilliest dresses and best shoes in high state of excitement. Dad is not much help with the wedding details.

"PERHAPS UNCLE CAL WANTS IT TO BE A SURPRISE!"

With the car finally packed, Nancy leans back in her seat and conjures up expectations of a snazzy weekend wedding.

I MAY SHUT MY EYES FOR A MOMENT OR TWO AND GET A LITTLE BEAUTY SLEEP," SHE THINKS TO HERSELF...

...Oooh-la-la! The hotel is fit for royalty, the swimming pool is like a lake and the water slide is a mile long, and after the water fun, Nancy enjoys a spa mani and pedi and lots of pampering before she dons her fabulous flower girl gown, summoning JoJo to hold her train... and then it's almost time to be the first in the wedding party to walk down the....

"WE'RE HERE! WAKE UP! NANCY!...."

"SAY WHAT?"

The reality of the affair is nothing like Nancy's dream. They are at a lake with log cabins all around. Dawn the bride wants an all-natural service, so there is not going to be any fancy wedding, no elegante reception with molded ice sculptures, towering, tiered cake, and jacketed waiters. And there is not going to be any flower girl at all.

It is a terrible blow to Nancy's hopes, but our girl bucks up and carries it off like a proper niece should. She even offers her own coronet to add some sparkle to Dawn's white muslin dress for "something borrowed" luck. Nancy is a bit overdressed for the pre-sunrise ceremony, but she takes an aisle seat and hops up to strew a few petals before the bride after all. And, she reflects...

"OF ALL THE GUESTS, I AM THE FANCIEST BY FAR."

In Jane O'Connor's latest full-color Fancy Nancy picture book, Fancy Nancy and the Wedding of the Century (Harper, 2014), Nancy Clancy comes through to make the rustic wedding an occasion to remember. Artist Robin Preiss Glasser gets to go all out, illustrating two possible weddings in her trademark style, plus a hearty bucolic party with fun for all.

Is Nancy never to make it down the aisle as the fanciest of flower girls? Surely Jane O'Connor and Robin Preiss Glasser have a rose-petal basket somewhere yet in Nancy's future! It would be tres triste if her creators let her age out of the flower girl job, especially since that means that honor will go to ... JoJo. Quelle horreur!

"Frothy and fun, Nancy's latest adventure feels as fresh as her first appearance," pronounces Kirkus Reviews.

All for Love! Family Ties by Gary Paulsen

I'm the happiest guy alive. Because Katrina M. Zablinski is my girlfriend.

I'm also the greatest family member you'll ever meet.

Lack of confidence is not Kevin Spencer's problem.

But he's under a lot of pressure. He is totally head-over-heels smitten with Tina, and he's sure she's the one for him for life. So naturally, he's got to plan a first date with her that will sweep her off her feet in awe with what a wonderful family man he's going to be.

So Kev starts the ball rolling by e-mailing his dad's brother Will, whose last visit practically wrecked the house, to come for the weekend and mend some family fences with his brother. Of course, Kevin's parents have not a clue about this amnesty project, so when the doorbell rings, Dad has a big surprise on his doorstep.

"Michael!" Uncle Will's voice boomed, "Got a big hug for your favorite brother?" Uncle Will put his arm around a woman stand just outside the door and pulled her into the house. "This is Brandee! Two ees! Because she's Extra Excellent.

Brandee's my new wife!"

Brandee's excellence wasn't so obvious to my folks. "Nice to meet you," Mom and Dad muttered.

Uncle Will reached behind Brandee and yanked a small boy forward. "And this is her son Larry. I call him Sparky....!"

It seems that Larry's nickname was chosen with care. Sparky is fascinated with fire, especially starting them.

Uncle Will had saved the best for last. He reached behind Brandee again and pulled forth a polar bear on a leash. "And this is Athena. Athena is part Great Pyrenees, he added.

"Oh, yeah, Athena's got a bladder infection. She can't always hold it real well!"

It looks that pulling off a miracle mending these family ties is going to be just the ticket to impress Tina, Kevin figures, and he heads off to school full of enthusiasm. In short order, he signs up for the school art fair, because Tina's old buddy is on the committee, and agrees to partner with Tina's best friend Katie in the social studies family project, where he has to take care of his and Katie's "baby," simulated by a popcorn-kernel-stuffed onesie, so that they get extra credit for family stress.

But Kevin is on a roll. He's got a great idea for that first date with Tina--he'll plan and stage a wedding celebration for Will and Brandee. That ought to knock Tina's socks off and show what a caring husband he will make.

But things at home get even more complicated. First, Grandma Lucille hears about the big event and shows up on that doorstep, packing a utility belt stuffed with cleaning supplies. Lucille is an compulsive cleaning fanatic and immediately gets to work scrubbing and cleaning the upstairs bathrooms.

Then the doorbell rings again. On the well-worn stoop is Kevin's grandfather, Lucille's ex-husband, Papa, with his flashy girlfriend Lola, a Vegas showgirl way back in the day. Lola takes over the introductions.

Lucille looked uncomfortable and stated toying with a bottle of tub and tile disinfectant jutting out of her fanny pack. Lola zoomed over and threw her arms around her boyfriend's ex-wife.

"I feel like I know you, like we're sisters or old friends already." Lola squeezed Lucile and rocked back and forth. She tucked her arm through Lucille's and grinned, clearly believing she'd just made a new BFF.

Kevin's mom is treating a sudden headache by resting her forehead on a bag of frozen peas in the freezer by this time, but Kevin volunteers to take care of all the wedding arrangements. He gets as far as making a to-do list, but as the week goes by, he finds that he's falling behind, way behind, as wedding planner, especially since there are suddenly two other potential happy couples, Papa and Lola and Aunt Buzz and her boyfriend Jim. Then Athena's "problem" turns out to be an unrecognized pregancy, as she gives birth to a litter of giant Pyrennes puppies. The more the merrier, Kevin thinks, all the more likely to secure Tina Zabinski's eternal love when she sees him as the complete family man, toasting all four couples suavely at the wedding.

And it's all in the name of love, in Newbery author Gary Paulsen's latest in his comic Kevin series, Family Ties (Random House, 2014). This time Kevin is not outdoing himself at daring deeds or raking in cool cash, but presiding over yet another sit-com-style adventure in Gary Paulsen's comic novel series celebrating the world's funniest dysfunctional family.

Other short, laugh-a-minute titles in this series are Liar, Liar: The Theory, Practice and Destructive Properties of Deception, Crush: The Theory, Practice and Destructive Properties of Love, Flat Broke: The Theory, Practice and Destructive Properties of Greed, and Vote.

Down the Aisle: Just Grace and the Flower Girl Power by Charlise Mericle Harper

WHAT HAPPENED THE SECOND AFTER AUGUSTINE DUPRE TOLD ME SHE WAS GETTING MARRIED
My brain when through a superfast list of everything to do with a wedding: wedding dress, flowers, flower girl... and then it stopped. I looked up at Augustine Dupre and said, "I will be the best flower girl ever! I promise! I promise! I promise! I PROMISE!"

WHAT IS SAD BUT TRUE

Just because you really, really, really want to be a flower girl and you know you'd be perfect at it, and even if it's probably the only time in your entire life that you'll have the chance to be one, this does not mean that being the flower girl is going to come true.

Augustine Dupre, the incredibly cool and kind young woman in the apartment downstairs from Grace, is getting married--to Luke, the UPS man, and the wedding is to take place outside in Mrs. Luther's backyard, in just a few weeks. Grace's world is rocked!

But Luke has a five-year-old niece, Delphine, who has first dibs on the solo flower girl slot! Grace is beyond disappointed, but Augustine promises that she will come up with an important role for her best young friend, and Grace, realizing that she is about to age out of the flower girl role, is still sad, but understands.

Now her busy mind turns to what the perfect gift for the perfect bride should be. Mom and Dad are giving Augustine a silver bowl. Boring, thinks Grace.

And then Grace comes up with an idea that is so exciting, so novel, so totally perfect for Augustine--and so hard to carry out. Mrs. Luther's cat, Crinkles, adores Augustine, and always makes a beeline for her whenever she sees her. Wouldn't it be a great wedding gift if Grace could make Crinkles a flower cat, and train her to walk slowly down the aisle, wearing a flower collar designed by Grace's best friend Mimi, and jump into Augustine's arms just as the wedding is about to start?

But how do you train a nervous cat to stroll slowly down the aisle on cue in the midst of dozens of people?

Library research on cat training is discouraging. Cats won't perform for food treats like dogs, she learns; they can only be "trained" to do what comes naturally to them. Wearing a flower-power collar takes some getting used to for Crinkles, but Grace works on that skill every day. Grace notices that Crinkles does a cautious and stately high-stepping walk whenever her dog Mr. Scruffers is in sight, so Grace sees that Mr. Scruffers has to be part of the plan. But her dog will only sit still and quiet while watching Mimi's little brother Robert eat crackers. And Crinkles will only go in the opposite direction when her friend Sammy is present, preferably wearing cat-scary oven mitts, so Robert and Sammy have to be part of the plan as well. The whole production involves a very complex protocol, but Just Grace becomes Wedding Planner Grace and with the help from her friends carefully sets up everything for the big moment. Will it be the best wedding present ever, or will it be a nuptial feline-canine disaster?

Charise Mericle Harper's forthcoming sequel, eighth in this celebrated series, Just Grace and the Flower Girl Power (The Just Grace Series) (Houghton Mifflin, 2012) is one of the best yet in the Just Grace series. Harper's novel device of having main character Grace narrate and illustrate her own story with her hand-drawn cartoons is a plus, meaning that the plot unfolds with a humorous self-commentary on Grace's state of mind. Grace is both a unique individual and a typical third grader whose world centers around doings at her school and in her neighborhood, with the ups and downs involved in shifting classroom relationships and family life itself. For traditional fans of Ramona Quimby, Junie B. Jones, Judy Moody, and Clementine, this one is right on target but yet unique in itself.

Other memorable books in this series are Just Grace Walks the Dog (The Just Grace Series), Just Grace and the Terrible Tutu, and Just Grace and the Double Surprise (The Just Grace Series).

Special Girl: Uncle Peter's Amazing Chinese Wedding by Lonore Look

Everyone is happy happy. Everyone but me. I love weddings, but not this one. Uncle Peter is upstairs taking his wedding bath so he'll be as clean as Monday morning. Except this is Saturday, and he should be with me, getting dirty at the playground. After a hot-dog lunch, we should be heading to the movies. "Jumbo popcorn, please," he'd say. "With extra butter for my special girl."

It may be a "great big fat Chinese wedding," but Jenny can't help feeling sad at the loss of her favorite uncle and feeling jealous as bride Stella receives all the attention and gets to change into a series of beautiful bridal dresses.

Jenny squeezes back her tears as her family rushes through the wedding traditions-- symbolic gifts of new shoes and wallet to help Uncle Peter go far and become rich, greeting the bride in her long red dress, and throwing birdseed upon the happy couple. The groom and bride bow to faded photographs of great-grandparents as guests shower them with red packets of Hungbau, lucky money.

All of this should be very exciting, but Jenny is still filled with sad and angry thoughts, and as the family begins to seat themselves for the tea ceremony, she slips into the kitchen and prepares a little surprise for the bride. As Stella kneels to pour tea for her new family, the cups are found to be filled with--water. While Grandma hurriedly makes more Chrysanthemum tea, Jenny's mother has a little talk with her daughter.

In a quiet room I tell my mother all my sadness. Like water without tea leaves, it pours into her lap. She tells me she will be sad, too, the day that I leave her. But, she says, she will also be happy, knowing I am happy. Then gently, she kisses my head.

"I will never leave," I insist.

After the special red bean and tapioca soup and the bed-jumping ceremony celebrated by all the kids in the wedding party, the grownups toast the new couple and everyone gets down and boogies, even 103-year-old Great-Grandma LoBaak. Then, too soon for Jenny, it's time to bid the new couple farewell, and her sad feelings return.

But there is one last wedding tradition to observe. Stella gives Jenny a small box.

"You are my first and only niece," she says. "I want you to do this. I hope you know I love you."

Jenny opens the box and soon the air is filled with a thousand escaping butterflies. Jenny takes a bow and at last returns a deep bow to the wedding couple.

Yumi Heo's illustrations, done in a bright, childlike faux-naif style, help the reader see the Chinese wedding traditions through the eyes of Jenny, as she watches it all in her red party dress and stiff, beribboned braids. Lonore Look's Uncle Peter's Amazing Chinese Wedding was named an ALA Notable Book.

Everybody's a Flower Girl!: Lilly's Big Day

That extremely self-confident mouse-girl with the star-studded boots is back in another adventure, just in time for those June weddings.

When Lilly, of Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse learns that her teacher Mr. Slinger is getting married to Ms. Shotwell, the school nurse, Lilly presumes that she will naturally be chosen as flower girl. Although her family tries to point out how unlikely that might be, Lilly spends her entire recess walking back and forth, carrying a bunch of weeds with conspicuous grace right under Mr. Slinger's nose. Unfortunately, Mr. Slinger has a little niece named Ginger who has already nailed the job as the only flower girl.

"This seems really important to you," said Mr. Slinger. "You know, I was just thinking you might like to be Ginger's assistant. You could make sure her dress isn't crooked and that she holds her flowers properly."
Lilly considered this.
"You could remind her to walk slowly," said Mr. Slinger.
Lilly considered some more.
"You could wear a corsage," said Mr. Slinger.
"Oh, all right," said Lilly, "if you really need me so much."

Lilly gets a new star-studded dress and perfects her down-the-aisle style until the big day finally arrives. Despite her hopes that Ginger will not show up, she's there with her dress on straight and her flowers held properly.

But when the music swells for Ginger's big entrance, she's petrified with stage fright. Only the quick-thinking Lilly saves the ceremony by picking Ginger up and delivering her bodily to her proper position at the altar.

It is the biggest day of Lilly's life after all, and she is so happy that she generously tells Ginger, "When I get married, you can be my flower girl."

This and other of Kevin Henkes' Lilly and friends stories can be heard on the CD Lilly's Big Day and Other Stories CD: 9 Stories.