BooksForKidsBlog

Wednesday, May 17, 2017

Moving On Up! The Very Fairy Princess by Julia Andrews and Emma Walton Hamilton

Hello, hello! I am Gerry. I'm a Very Fairy Princess. I try not to brag about it too much. (But my wings and crown give me away a bit.)

A special occasion is just around the corner. It's the end of the school year, and...

It's graduation time!

Gerry loves a special occasion, one that shows off her sparkle, but the last days of school begin to dim her glimmer. The class's work and paintings come down, the cubbies are cleared of all their personal things, and their room looks empty. It's not their room anymore.

Gerry realizes that Miss Pym, who didn't mind her wearing her wings and crown to school every day, will no longer be her teacher. Their class pet, Houdini the hamster, will be some other class's pet. Miss Pym says they are ready to move on, but Gerry is not ready. She doesn't even know if there will be a class pet next year. She doesn't even know who her teacher will be.

And then Gerry learns her new teacher's name--Mr. Bonario.

 MISTER Bonario? Our new teacher is a MAN?

He'll never believe I am a Very Fairy Princess!

Visions of a stern schoolmaster and herself in a drab school uniform, without wings or crown, fill Gerry's head. Sadly but loyally she helps Miss Pym make the room ready for a new class and practices the class song. Gerry tries to remind herself that a fairy princess is a team player.

Her spirits revive a little when she tries on the tasseled graduation hat and gown, but then a sad thought hits her. What if her new teacher won't let her wear her crown and wings? What if he insists on calling her Geraldine?

"Oh, puh-LEEZ!" groaned her brother Stewart.

On the big day, Gerry bravely puts on her blue robe. But how is she going to wear graduation hat and a crown? Mom comes to the rescue and pins the crown securely to the top of her blue mortarboard.

At last the class marches past their proud parents onto the stage. They sing, and then Mr. Higginbotham declares them graduated to the next grade.

Everyone applauds, and we throw our hats onto the air!

Oh, No! MY CROWN! It flies off my hat and sails over the audience!

A hand reaches up to snatch it!

Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown, in Julia Andrews' and Emma Hamilton's latest in series, The Very Fairy Princess: Graduation Girl! (Little, Brown and Company, 2017), but clever kids will already be guessing just who makes that heroic catch of Gerry's crown. He's a pretty cool guy, and one look at his polka-dot socks makes Gerry think Mr. Bonario is the kind of teacher who is going to appreciate some special sparkle in his classroom. With the help of artist Christine Davenier, who portrays Gerry's every mood with just the right emotion and elan, author Andrews' and Hamilton's new story captures just the right touch of both nostalgia and sparkle for the last days of school. "Andrews's and Hamilton's heroine continues to charm," says Publisher's Weekly.

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