QUEEN OF THE CLASS

Ann Estelle is back in school, all excited about the upcoming class-play auditions, certain that she is perfect for the Queen’s role. Instead, she’s downhearted when selected to be the stage manager, unaware that its backstage position is one of utmost importance for the entire performance. Reluctantly accepting her assignment, the diligent, hard-working, self-assured, and organized Ann Estelle stages an imperial production, creating clever props, rehearsing and recovering forgotten lines with the actors, and ensuring that all runs smoothly from the first scene to the last curtain call. Engelbreit’s signature clean, crisp illustrations of round-faced happy spirited children dressed in bright colors are outlined within a one-inch white frame and reflect a typical classroom setting surrounded by upper and lower borders of the alphabet and a series of school and theatrical supplies. Disappointment is majestically turned into exuberance as this protagonist puts her best effort into everything she does. (Picture book. 5-7)