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).

Grace Under Pressure: Still Just Grace by Charise Mericle Harper

THINGS THAT ARE UNUSUAL (SOME GOOD, SOME BAD, SOME NOT SURE)

1. Having four girls named Grace in the same class, and not letting any of them use the name Grace. Instead, calling them Grace W., Gracie, Grace F. (secretly named the Big Meanie by me, because that is what she is), and Just Grace. The Just Grace name probably being the most dumb name in the whole world ever, which is especially bad and sad because that's the one that is mine.

Some of our Grace's other absolutely good things are her best friend Mimi next door, her own "Empathy Power" which lets her know when someone else is feeling sad or bad about themselves, and her ability to draw comics about whatever is on her mind.

Then, among the not-so-good things are The Big Meanie, who tries to boss everyone around and persists in calling her "Just Grace" even when there are no other Graces around, not to mention her neighbor Max, the new boy who just moved in on the other side of Mimi and whose ability to walk on his hands seems to appeal to Mimi way too much.

When Grace returns from a few days away with her family to help her Grandma relocate to a retirement complex, she discovers that Mimi has chosen to partner with Max and their former nemesis Sammy Stringer on a class language arts project--and the only group who needs an extra person includes two other Graces, dominated by Gracie F., a.k.a. the Big Meanie. Grace watches her best friend and the two boys happily throw themselves into their project together, and she feels like her whole world is slipping away.

Despite herself, though, Grace can't help feeling empathy with her student teacher Mr. Frank, whose idea the language project is, and to keep him from flunking student teaching, she gets down to work with her group. Out thinking The Big Meany, Just Gracie comes up with the best idea for her group and organizes their roles to carry off a highly successful project. In the process, the Graces talk out their feelings about being one of the Four Graces, and Gracie F. agrees not to call her "Just Grace" anymore. Although Just Grace and Mimi discover that they are still best-best-friends, they also learn that they can enjoy being with Sammy and Max and with the other three Graces as well.

In Still Just Grace author Charise Harper provides a meaningful sequel to her first book Just Grace (just out in paperback). Together with her newest installment in the series, Just Grace Walks the Dog (Just Grace) these beginning chapter novels offer a believable third-grader dealing with real-life social and family situations. Grace's comic drawings interspersed through the text give the books extra appeal and her frequent humorous but insightful lists cue readers to what is really going on in Grace's internal life. Reviewers agree that in this series Grace joins her fictional "sisters" Ramona, Junie B., Judy Moody, and Clementine in bringing early middle graders into the novel experience with verve and zest.

Tuna Fish Cupcakes? Just Grace and the Snack Attack by Charise Mericle Harper

QUIET THANKS!

1) Thank you, Mimi, for being the best friend in the whole world that a person could have.

2) Thank you, Miss Lois, for trying to be a more fun teacher like Mr. Frank and not so bossy and not smiling like you used to be.

3) Merci (which is French for "thank you"),
Augustine Dupre, for having great ideas all the time and living in the nice apartment in my basement.

4) And finally, thank you, Owen 1, for picking on Sunni and saying that her lunch was disgusting and looked like worms.

Why am I thanking Owen 1?

Why? Well, Owen 1 (one of three Owens in Just Grace's class) has a bad case of logorrhea: words better left unspoken seem to proceed out of his mouth without passing through his brain. But this time, Owen's faux pas delights Grace and some squeamish members of the class. Principal Harris, who overhears the unfortunate remark, and Miss Lois decide that the class could do with a bit of gustatory sensitivity training, and Miss Lois announces, to the secret glee of some kids in the class, that their unit of frog physiology will be postponed indefinitely while the class undertakes projects on "unique snacks around the world."

Momentarily, Just Grace is elated to be spared the sight of frog guts during science class, but her concern soon turns to choosing her own snack project. Her best friend Mimi decides on "Hot Dogs Around the World" and Grace's dad, a major Chicago-style hot dog fan, volunteers to help Mimi out. Grace is jealous of her dad's enthusiasm for her friend's idea, and slips away to visit her spiffy downstairs neighbor, the glamorous Frenchwoman and flight attendant Augustine Dupre. Luckily for Grace, Augustine serendipitously has a little present for her from her latest trans-Atlantic flight, roasted-chicken-flavored potato chips from La Belle France, and, voila', Grace has the subject for her project!

Owen 1, meanwhile, is not faring so well with the boy population of the class, most of whom had been looking forward to grossing out the girls with their frog dissections, and, more nervous than ever, Owen 1 responds by being even more of an annoyance than ever. Finally Just Grace has had it with his off-the-wall remarks and without thinking, throws her pencil at him. Surprisingly, Owen 1 covers for her with Miss Lois, and Just Grace is just amazed that Owen turns out to a better friend to her than she has been to him.

Little life lessons and funny escapades mark this latest in Charise Mericle Harper's Just Grace and the Snack Attack (Houghton Mifflin, 2009) in her delightful beginning chapter series Just Grace. Fans of such fabulously funny third-grade heroines as Paula Danziger's Amber Brown will take to this series, like Just Grace's weiner-worshipping dad, with relish!

Doing It with Grace: Just Grace Goes Green by Charise Mericle Harper

THINGS YOU CAN CHANGE:

YOUR FRIENDS Sometimes you might think that you have the perfect number of friends, but then you add a new friend to the list and suddenly you can't believe that it used to be different, because now it seems so just right perfect, and just maybe even better than before.

YOUR MIND So that if you at first thought one thing, but then some time goes by and now you think another thing, then that's okay.

Some things haven't changed. With so many Graces in her class, Grace is still stuck with being Just Grace at school. Miss Lois, who tends to be set in her ways, even has her in alphabetical order right after Jordan in her grade book. But taking over from the funny and friendly substitute, Mr. Frank, who had a talent for making third grade invigorating, Miss Lois is clearly trying to make learning more exciting, and Just Grace is inspired by their class drive to "go green." Grace quickly becomes dedicated to decorating plastic water bottles, turning off unused lights, and brushing her teeth with a minimum of water.

But even going green doesn't take up all of Grace's attention when her best friend Mimi announces that her cousin Gwen is coming to stay for weeks while her parents are away. Grace is curious about Gwen, but finds herself just a little green with jealousy, worried that Mimi will spend all of her time with her guest and Grace will be Just Lonely Grace. Gwen is nice, but being a year older makes her seem a bit bossy, and she manages to take up most of Mimi's time. But when she commandeers Willoughby, Mimi's favorite stuffed rabbit, for her own, Grace sees a way to win back Mimi's affection by finding a way to substitute her unwanted stuffed owl as Gwen's favorite bedtime buddy.

But it's not an easy scheme to carry out, especially since the three girls are so involved in their recycling project, plans for Gwen's birthday party, and managing a yard sale to make sure all their unwanted toys will not be added to the waste stream. But Just Grace finally comes up with a plan which just might work--wrapping her old toy up as a birthday present for Gwen, who falls for it, abandoning Willoughby right away for her new Owly.

Early chapter book fans of Judy Moody, Clementine, Ivy and Bean or Allie Finkle will find Just Grace's school and friendship dilemmas funny and familiar territory in her cheerful, easy-going sequel, Just Grace Goes Green, from Charise Harper's popular, light-hearted series, which also includes Just Grace, Still Just Grace, and Just Grace Walks the Dog, all illustrated by "Just Grace" in her inimitable hand-drawn cartoon style.

Frosted Friendship: Just Grace and the Trouble with Cupcakes by Charise Mericle Harper

OUR FAIR IDEAS AND WHO THOUGHT OF THEM

1. SUPERPOWERS (There could be games about different superpowers.) ME

2. CANDY (Every game could have something to do with a different candy.) MIMI

Candy was the best idea on the list. Best and favorite are not the same thing. My idea was still my favorite, but I knew candy was the idea our whole class was going to go crazy for.

THE PROMISE

I looked at Mimi and said, "If everyone likes your idea best, I'm not going to try to make my idea be the winner." Mimi smiled and said, "I won't say another word about my idea either."

"Pinky swear?" I said.  "Pinky swear," said Mimi, and we made it official.

It's almost school vacation and Just Grace is happy.  Grandma is coming for a weekend visit, and it's almost time for the high point of third grade, when Miss Lois' class gets to choose the theme of the school carnival. Grandma bustles in with the recipe for the "best cupcakes in the world" and she and Grace make up a huge batch.  Everyone, even Grace's best friend forever, Mimi, agrees that that they are the best cupcakes ever. Grace is sad when Grandma has to jet off for her tour of Paris, but she consoles herself with a secret breakfast cupcake and thoughts of planning the Fair with Mimi.

As  predicted, the class goes crazy over the idea of a candy-themed fair.  Mimi is smiling happily. But with cupcakes in her lunchbox and cupcakes on her brain, Grace can't believe what she does when Miss Lois calls on her.

Suddenly I thought of a new idea. It was something better than my superpowers idea.  It was something people loved maybe even more than candy. Without thinking about it, I put my hand in the air and shouted out what I was thinking.

"WHAT ABOUT CUPCAKES?"

Immediately Grace realizes what she has done. She's broken her promise to her best friend. Mimi will never trust her again.  Of course, the class joyfully jumps on the cupcake bandwagon, everyone, that is, except Mimi, who looks sadly down at her desk.

Grace is devastated at what she's done.  Mimi won't answer her calls, or walk to school with her, and Grace finds herself assigned to the planning group headed by Owen 1, her un-favorite boy in the whole class.   Now the wonderful school fair is ruined for her and she's stuck trying to think up a cupcake-themed carnival game with three people who aren't even her friends, while Mimi is laughing and and having fun with another group.

Grace has only one hope.  She carefully writes a letter of apology to Mimi and puts  it in a pretty box along with the last two of Grandma's World's Best Cupcakes.  She takes it over to Mimi's house, puts it by the front door, rings the doorbell, and runs away.  Now she has to wait and see if Mimi understands how sorry she is for breaking her promise.  But at school the next day, Mimi is still ignoring her. Can the school fair and the whole summer vacation ruined by three thoughtless words?

In her forthcoming latest in her best-selling Just Grace series, Just Grace and the Trouble with Cupcakes (The Just Grace Series) (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2013) shows the importance of trust in a friendship and how easily it can be lost.  The breach of a close friendship is one of the rites of passage in the elementary years, and with her usual light comic touch and black-and-white cartoon drawings to tell the story, Charise Mericle Harper takes her early elementary readers along with her as Grace and Mimi work their way through this broken-promise-premise in her fifth beginning chapter novel. Harper handles the growing pains of third graders with the deft fictional touch that puts her series right up there with Beverly Cleary's pesky Ramona Quimby, Paula Danziger's redoubtable Amber Brown, and Megan McDonald's changeable Judy Moody.

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.

Chef Challenge! Lights, Camera, COOK! (Next Best Junior Chef) by Charise Mericle Harper

While the judges got themselves seated, Chef Nancy whispered last-minute instructions to the junior chefs.

"Cameras are on. Remember: Don't look at the cameras. Look at the judges."

Then comes The Question:

If you become the Next Best Junior Chef, what will your food truck be?"

Artsy Rae calls her truck the Crafty Cafe'. The supremely self-confident Oliver titles his truck Bistro Revilo (Oliver spelled backwards, of course.) Creative Caroline names hers Diner Francaise, an amalgam of the lowly diner Americaine with a French twist, and little Tate, the youngest at only eight years old, declares his truck the Stuff My Face, with daily-changing multi-ethnic menus.

Chef Gary called Tate's truck "clever" Chef Aimee said it was "funny."

"It's fine," said Chef Porter, looking like she'd just eaten a super-sour pickle. Tate withered like spinach in a pan.

It looks like the Next Best Junior Chef Contest is going to be a dog-eat-dog competition!

Let the best chef win is the motto, and in Charise Mericle Harper's Episode One of her new series, readers are plunged into that timely trope, the reality TV cooking contest. Rae, Oliver, and Caroline are already accomplished in cookery, and even little Tate wields a mean chef's knife, and the four 'tweeners are thrown into an intense four-day rivalry. The kids are all skilled cooks, masters of umami, with sophisticated palettes, contending with each other to concoct unusual combinations way beyond just sweet and savory and to master presentation skills, "plating," that shows off the dish.

Finally it comes down to the last cook-off. Each junior chef is first asked to choose a vegetable and use it as the base for a dessert. Caroline works her baby eggplants into a caramelized apple-eggplant filling, layered in puff pastry, garnished with caramel sauce and ground pistachios. Oliver opts for sweet potato fritters, with lavender-honey sauce, and a slice of trigger melon filled with sweet potato-cream cheese ice cream, with yam crisps on the side. Rae serves up a simple spiced lime and mango tart with spicy poblano brittle on the side, and Tate concocts a molten chocolate beet pudding cake with chocolate web crust, set off by candied yellow and red beets.

But there are some slips 'twixt cup and lip in the final face-off. Tate forgets to taste his pudding and it's not sweet enough to please Chef Porter. Caroline's puff pastry is a bit soggy on bottom, while Rea worries over how much poblano is too much for brittle and Oliver frets over whether his fritters will be fluffy enough.

They all know that after this round, one of them will be asked to turn in his or her apron!

It's high stakes cuisine in Harper's first in her planned trilogy, Lights, Camera, Cook! (Next Best Junior Chef) (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2017), as the production crew rushes the young chefs through training and tasting trials and pushes competition to a fever pitch for the final showdown. But along the way noted author Harper manages to portray strong friendships, develop mutual understanding, and learn grace under the pressure of reality television. Harper also provides plenty of cooking lore for any budding foodies among her readers, even an appendix on "Essential Knife Techniques." This one is an appetite-teasing, tasty treat for summer reading, which just may, perchance, induce some forays into the kitchen along the way.

Harper even offers an excerpt from the next book in the series, forthcoming in February of 2018, in which the challenge continues to heat up among the three remaining contestants, The Heat Is On (Next Best Junior Chef).

Signals! Go! Go! Go! Stop! by Charise Mericle Harper

ONE DAY LITTLE GREEN SAID A WORD.

IT WAS HIS FIRST WORD. HE HAD NEVER SPOKEN BEFORE.

THE WORD WAS GO!

There's bridge to be built, and the gang's all there--Dump Truck, Forklift, Crane, Bulldozer, Power Shovel--roarin' and rarin' to begin.

This is what they were meant to do, and the construction vehicles get going, doing their thing.  They dig, they shove, load, they lift and shovel, and pour. The construction site is filled with hustle and bustle.

But there's a problem! When everybody is focused on doing his one thing, nothing much gets accomplished.

And then Little Green rolls into town.  He finds his niche in a tall frame, and switches into action.

GO! GO! GO!

The crew gets in line, and things start to move. They bustle and hustle and zoom around.

They bump into each other. It's all a bit crazy.

LITTLE GREEN TRIED WHISPERING,

HOPING IT WOULD SLOW THINGS DOWN.

But things don't improve. There's such a thing as too much of a good thing! All go is a no-go for builders. But just in time, a new dude rolls into town. His name is Little Red. He has one word for all of the gung-ho on-the-go boys.

STOP!

Little Red fits right in, below Little Green in the frame.

LITTLE RED AND LITTLE GREEN WERE EXACT OPPOSITES, BUT THEY TRIED TO WORK TOGETHER.

After a bit of experimentation they get their act together, signalling the builders when to go and when to stop, and the bridge construction site is beginning to shape up. But it seems there's one control concept they still need!

THEN LITTLE YELLOW SLID INTO TOWN.

HE HAD SOMETHING TO SAY.

SLOW DOWN!

Charise Mericle Harper's newest picture book project, Go! Go! Go! Stop! Alfred A. Knopf, 2014), uses the cartooning skill the author/illustrator used to good effect in her notable Just Grace
beginning chapter books to come up with a creative combination of construction, colors, and traffic signal concepts. Harper's illustrations have a lot of detail that will keep young power vehicle fans poring over the action on each page, and the idea of personifying traffic lights as the necessary arbiters of systematic order carry a social message cleverly embedded in this story.

Kirkus' starred review cheers, "A wonderful read-aloud and a lighthearted and lively celebration of action words!"

Pair this one with Rinker's perennial best-selling rhyming tale, Goodnight, Goodnight Construction Site, or Ashburn's Mother Goose mash-up, Builder Goose: It's Construction Rhyme Time! (see review here: .

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.