FLOWER GIRL

A little girl has very mixed feelings about this whole wedding idea, but has a lot of fun getting to the point of the flower girl thing. Anna’s Aunt Julie is getting married, and wants Anna to be the flower girl. Anna knows weddings are really dull for kids, but when she, her mom, and Aunt Julie go to grandma’s house, Anna is entranced by what they find in the attic: grandma’s wedding veil and Mama’s wedding dress. Aunt Julie tries everything on, and Anna tries on the veil and long gloves—gloves that Mama says “are filled with memories.” Anna thinks that maybe being a flower girl won’t be so bad and maybe she’ll wear Grandma’s veil, too, “If I get married.” Jessup makes cheery, cozy pictures: Grandma’s house, with its front porch, friendly interior, and peaked attic is just right for Anna’s warmhearted story. Grandma herself is not very old, as is natural in this setting: she and her daughters and granddaughter share shades of the same russet/strawberry blonde hair. Jessup (Just Enough, 2000, etc.) uses calligraphic outline to sketch the folds of the wedding dress, the beams of the attic ceiling, and the profusion of flowers in the yard, filled in with the colors of a sunny summer day. Like Gary Soto’s Snapshots from the Wedding (1997), Furgang, in her first picture book, offers a child’s-eye view of a special event with love and spirit. (Picture book. 3-8)