It’s the Easter season, which mean lots of little girls are wearing fancy dresses.
So it seems like the perfect time for Allyssa to review Bonnie Ashburn’s picture book I Had a Favorite Dress (Abrams Books for Young Readers, 2011).
This book tells the story of a girl who wears her favorite dress. Every week on the same day. For a lot of weeks.
But then, she grows, and the dress is too short. What to do? Thanks to some creative thinking and sewing skills from her mom, the dress gets transformed into another piece of clothing. That she wears once a week on a different day.
And then, it becomes another kind of clothing for another day.
And then … well, let’s hear the rest from Allyssa.
Our reviewer: Allyssa.
Age: 7
Things I like to do: Draw, color and read.
This book was about: A girl who had a favorite dress.
The best part was when: She had the hairbow in her hair.
I smiled when: When she was wearing the skirt.
I was worried when: When I told my mom that I didn’t have pants to wear to school. But on Monday, my pants were in my drawer. (Note: This example comes from Allyssa’s own life, not from the book!)
I was surprised when: The puppy got ahold of the hairbow.
This book taught me: “You can’t wear the same clothes every day.”
Three words that best describe this book are: “Funny.” “Creative.” “Good.”
My favorite line or phrase in the book was: “Snip, snip, sew, sew… New shirt, hello!”
You should read this book because: Because girls might have a favorite dress too. And it’s a funny book. You can see all the dresses on the front cover and choose which is the one you like.
Thank you, Allyssa! For the record, Allyssa’s favorite piece of clothing is a short-sleeved shirt that is purple and pink and sparkly with buttons. And her favorite day of the week is Saturday, because sometimes she and her family do fun things together.
Another cool thing about this book is that it was a finalist for the Cybils Award, which is given to outstanding children’s book in several categories based on nominees and judging by children’s book bloggers. And if you’d like to see the memories it inspired in several grown women, read this blog post from Abrams.
Author Boni Ashburn has several great books out. To learn more, you can:
- Visit her website.
- Read this interview she did for Read, Write, Repeat.
Illustrator Julia Denos loves fashion and books, so she was the perfect choice to illustrate this book. You can learn more about her by:
- Visiting her website.
- Reading her blog, The Cinnamon Rabbit.