By Kevin Henkes
Greenwillow Books
Hardcover

Sweet Lilly is back with another adventure for her fans. This time, she's convinced she'll be the flower girl when her teacher announces he'll be marrying the school nurse.

Lilly practices and practices. "It will be the biggest day of my life," she says.

But when her teacher says he's already picked his niece Ginger to be the flower girl, Lilly's heart is broken. Her teacher doesn't want to let Lilly down, though, so he lets her be Ginger's assistant.

Lilly's still disappointed but she takes her new role as a flower girl assistant very seriously and brags to everyone how important assistants are in a wedding. Once it sinks in that she won't be the one walking down the aisle and carrying the flowers while everyone watches, she takes one more shot at trying to be the number one flower girl by asking over and over again if Ginger is really sure she wants to fulfill her role.

Lilly's Big Day Excerpt Mr. Slinger called Lilly up to his desk during Quiet Reading Time. "Lilly," he said, "I can tell that you want to be a flower girl, but unfortunately my niece, Ginger, is going to the be the flower girl at my wedding." Lilly's heart sank. ©2006 Kevin Henkes Published with permission from Greenwillow Books

Ginger is convinced she's walking down that aisle. Until it's time for her to go, of course. Ginger completely freezes and can't move.

Only Lilly knows what to do. All her flower girl practice pays off as she prances down the aisle carrying Ginger, smiling brightly and hearing everyone clap when she makes it to where her teacher is standing waiting on his bride.

"I knew this would be the biggest day of my life!" she says.

Bookworm's Briefing
Lilly's Big Day is geared to the 4-8 reader level but it's also a good book to sit and enjoy with younger children. The story is an easy read for budding readers and author and illustrator Kevin Henkes took no shortcuts with his beautiful illustrations. Many pages even have multiple illustrations of Lilly in action.