MOUNTAIN WEDDING
by Faye Gibbons & illustrated by Ted Rand
A perky tale of a backwoods Brady Bunchstyle wedding as told by one of the young'uns. Widow Searcy has five kids and Widower Long has seven. The book opens on their wedding day; the children can't stop squabbling and wrestling long enough to let the ceremony proceed peacefully. When a swarm of angry bees arrives, the Searcy mules bolt and take off, trailing a full wagon. In the rough-and-tumble aftermath all the kids pitch in to stop the runaways, gentle the mules, and gather up the far-flung belongings. In the end, ``Mr. Long's young'uns looked at us Searcys and then at one another, and all of us began to laugh.'' The wedding takes place with them gathered together in more ways than one. Rand's watercolors are particularly fine; prettily evoking the Georgia mountains of a few decades ago and well matched to the text, they add sly humor to an already rousing tale. (Picture book. 5+)