Pinking Up Papa: Pink Me Up by Charise Mericle Harper

TODAY IS SPECIAL. MAMA AND--ME. TODAY.

TODAY IS THE DAY OF THE PINK GIRLS PINK-NIC.

WE WILL BE PINK, PINK, PINK, PINK!

It's a Mother-Daughter Day gala, but the pink spots Mama wakes up with are NOT part of her ensemble! It's a disaster! The only other girl in the family is the cat, Pinky, and dressing her up has already been tried, with very unfortunate results, for all concerned.

Then Daddy gamely volunteers to stand in.

I tell Daddy something very important. "Daddy, you're a boy!

And it's a pink girl party!

Boys ARE NOT PINK!"

Daddy consults his closet and comes out proudly in his usual drab suit--but with a pink tie. Daughter Violet is not impressed. But this daddy turns out to be more flexible than his little girl ever imagined!

"Don't worry," says Daddy. "We just have to PINK ME UP!"

And they do. Pinky stickers on his jacket, pink polka dots on his shirt, and pink stripes taped to his pants, and soon Daddy is....

PERFECTLY PINK!

PINK-TASTIC, PINK-ABULOUS, PINK-ERIFIC, PINK-NIFICENT!

Charise Mericle Harper's latest, Pink Me Up (Knopf, 2010), joins the plethora of pink-lit on the market these days, a frothy, funny tale for Father's Day of a daddy who obviously loves his little pink funny bunny very much. With Harper's quirky, cartoon style drawings, lovingly painted up with pails of pink paint, this story joins the growing pink-themed picture books so popular with young fashionistas--Pinkalicious, Purplicious (Pinkalicious), and, of course, that queen of the pinkanistas, Fancy Nancy.

Charisse Mericle Harper is also the author of the popular beginning chapter series Just Grace and the picture-book Fashion Kitty series.