[Saturday Reads] Games BFFs and Best Girl Cousins Play in Picturebooks by Female American Author-Illustrators

SaturdayReads

Myra here.

Every Saturday we hope to share with you our thoughts on reading and books. We thought that it would be good practice to reflect on our reading lives and our thoughts about reading in general. While on occasion, we would feature a few books in keeping with this, there would be a few posts where we will just write about our thoughts on read-alouds, libraries, reading journals, upcoming literary conferences, books that we are excited about, and just book love miscellany in general.

These two picturebooks depict female friendships forged through hijinks, the occasional tiffs, faery dust, and glam glasses.

Princess! Fairy! Ballerina!

Written and Illustrated by Bethanie Deeney Murguia
Published by Arthur A. Levine Books (2016)
ISBN: 0545732409 (ISBN13: 9780545732406). Borrowed from the Jurong West Public Library. Book photos taken by me.

These three girls are excited to spend the day together. However, they are at odds as to what exactly they should do. While they all look fabulous, they appear to be dressed for three different events altogether.

One is keen on being a queen, while another one is enamoured with pixie dust, and yet another would rather tiptoe and dance on stage amidst cheers.

Reminiscent of The Pros And Cons Of Being A Frog by Sue De Gennaro (see my review here), this is a perfect book to introduce themes such as conflict resolution, managing relationships, and arriving at a healthy compromise among BFFs.

Glamorous Glasses

Written and Illustrated by Barbara Johansen Newman
Published by Boyds Mills Press (2014)
ISBN: 1590788788 (ISBN13: 9781590788783). Borrowed from the Jurong West Public Library. Book photos taken by me.

Bobbie and her cousin Joanie are the best of friends. It is hardly surprising since their mothers are sisters, and they do practically everything together – including hunting down the perfect pair of spectacles when Joanie had to start wearing prescription eye glasses.

Bobbie was beside herself. Despite the fact that she has perfect vision, she really wanted to wear glamorous glasses, just like Joanie. Little did she know that Joanie actually hated wearing glasses.

Being intrepid girls, they then decided to switch a few stuff around so that both can start being the glam selves they always wanted to be. However, things did not exactly turn out the way they expected them to be.

While this is pretty text-heavy compared to other picturebooks, I really enjoyed the story development, the evident growth among the two girls, and the fun and exciting way in which the narrative unfolded. I will be on the lookout for other titles created by Newman.