I Had a Favorite Dress

by Boni Ashburn, Julia Denos (Illustrator)

Overview

“Endearing picture book.” —Wall Street Journal
“Will speak to young fashionistas.” —Kirkus Reviews
“What could have been yet another example of kindergarten consumerism instead becomes one of resourcefulness and resilience.” —Pamela Paul, New York Times

Open up a fresh and stylish story for girls and boys about growing up and keeping hold of your favorite memories. This is a lively, energetic story about adjusting when you need to and being creative when you have to.

As the year passes, the narrator’s favorite dress goes through a series of creative changes, from dress to shirt to tank top to scarf and so on, until all that’s left of it is a good memory. Assisted by her patient and crafty mama, the narrator finds that when disaster strikes her favorite things, she doesn’t need to make mountains out of molehills—she “makes molehills out of mountains” instead!

Structured around the days of the week, the story is also illustrated to show the passing of the seasons, a perfect complement to the themes of growing older and keeping hold (and letting go) of special mementos. The collaged mixed-media full-color illustrations of watercolors, graphite, colored pencil, and needle and thread give this unique and charming story its bounce and flounce. Breezy in style, the artwork smartly stitches each scene of alteration as the not-so-little girl sashays through the days of the week and the seasons.

This modernized version of a traditional folk tale will delight new audiences of parents and children who will learn that everything old can really become new again.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781419700163
Publisher:	Abrams Books for Young Readers
Publication date:	08/01/2011
Pages:	32
Sales rank:	339,190
Product dimensions:	8.70(w) x 10.70(h) x 0.50(d)
Age Range:	4 - 6 Years

About the Author

Boni Ashburn is a mother of twins and the bestselling author of I Had a Favorite Dress, The Fort That Jack Built, Hush, Little Dragon, and Over at the Castle. She lives in Houghton, Michigan. Visit her online at boniashburn.com.


Julia Denos studied illustration at the Art Institute of Boston and has published several acclaimed books for young readers. She lives in Quincy, Massachusetts. Visit her online at www.juliadenos.com.

Editorial Reviews

In a spunky story about adjusting to change with creativity and style, a young fashionista loves her salmon-pink dress with its striped bodice and ruffles, wearing it every Tuesday, her favorite day of the week. But one day, the dress is too short, so Mama, dressed in her own boho-stylish clothes, works some refashioning magic, "And snip, snip, sew, sew... New shirt, hello!" When the sleeves get too tight, Mama turns it into a tank top and later a skirt, which the girl wears every Friday, her new favorite day-for the moment. Readers should enjoy the beloved dress's transitions (including incarnations as a scarf and a pair of socks), which are vibrantly conveyed through Denos's (Dotty) mixed-media collages composed of hip colors, jazzy patterns, and delicate pencilwork. Ashburn's (Over at the Castle) prose is shot through with loose internal rhymes ("And my new cool-for-school skirt looked just right with my favorite tights! I wore it one Friday and it felt just right"), giving the story a buoyancy to match its heroine. Tailor-made, so to speak, for the Etsy generation of DIY enthusiasts. Ages 4-6.
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Publishers Weekly

K-Gr 2—When the unnamed narrator's favorite dress is suddenly a size too small, she is not a happy camper; she wears that dress every Tuesday, which is her favorite day of the week. Then her mother transforms the too-small dress into the perfect shirt. As the child's favorite day of the week changes so does her garment as she grows out of it. It becomes a tank top (no tank tops allowed in school), a skirt (skirts are out), a scarf (gets stuck in a door), socks (one lost), a hair bow (chewed up by puppy), and, finally, a picture of the original dress by the narrator herself. Through all these transformations, the youngster learns that change doesn't mean the end—just something new. As her mother likes to say, "Make molehills out of mountains." Some of Ashburn's text is playfully placed in and around the art to good effect. A variety of font styles is used, including cursive, bold, and italics, and the word "sew" is actually depicted with stitches. Denos's multimedia illustrations, a combination of collages, watercolors, and graphite and colored pencil artwork, reinforce the narrator's vibrant personality and the amazing transformations of the dress while capturing the action and emotion of the story. This book is sure to capture the imaginations of would-be seamstresses; children who can't bear to part with a favorite item; and those who want to reduce, reuse, recycle.—Catherine Callegari, Gay-Kimball Library, Troy, NH

School Library Journal