Charise Mericle Harper

I loved this. I don't think a lot of media has acknowledged how messy and fragile friendships can be in the period from middle school to high school. It also delves into when you like hanging out with someone, but they're not your best friend. The worst feeling is realizing you like someone way more than they like you.

In the short, this touches on compartmentalizing different friendships. A friend for school, a friend just to eat lunch with, etc.

Many children’s books are simply wasted on their target audience. The most obvious example is, of course, J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series, but children’s books with crossover appeal abound: The Book Thief, The Little Prince, The Cavendish Home for Boys and Girls, One Hundred and One Dalmatians, The Dumb Bunnies, Charlotte's Web, The Magic Thief, The Secret Garden.

Add to that list one more: Just Grace. Third-grader Grace Stewart doesn’t speak like an adult, as happens in so many show more children’s books. She sounds just like a real 9-year-old when she perseverates on how unfair her parents; her stern neighbor, Mrs. Luther; her teacher, Miss Lois, and life in general are. She is appalled by the nasty habits of boys — particularly the poop-obsessed and snotty-nosed Sammy Stringer, a boy with the social graces of a baboon — which is to say, like most 9-year-old boys. This book chronicles the first of what promises to be many adventures of the imaginative and kind Grace.

Grace doesn’t ask for too much. She doesn’t want to be a member of the Justice League; she just wishes to have a “teeny tiny superpower” like the Not So Super Heroes she draws in her own paneled cartoons. What is her “teeny tiny superpower”? Empathy, which Grace has in spades. That’s why, when Mrs. Luther breaks her leg, Grace hits on a wonderful plan to cheer her up. To say more would be to ruin this book. Let’s just say it involves cats and postcards.

Is Just Grace in the same league as the children’s classics I listed above? Not quite. There aren’t any passages that will make your heart flutter, and Grace’s conflict is of the minor sort that you’d expect from a girl who lives in real-life Morgan, N.J., a wealthy bedroom community of New York City. But this quick read will cheer any reader — child or adult — as they meet and fall in love with the big-hearted Grace. And isn’t that what Not So Super powers are for? show less

I don't like Charise Mericle Harper. No, I am not in a grumpy mood, I'm just a woman of strong dislikes. I found her Fashion Kitty really annoying and generally consider her illustrations a poor imitation of Lauren Child.

But I was reluctantly forced to adore this oddly charming story of a plain cupcake longing for decoration and finally achieving the perfect look with the help of a rather confused candle.

Cupcake lovers everywhere rejoice!

I read this to two storytime groups, ranging from show more about 2 years to 6. They were only mildly interested in the opening, with the different kinds of cupcakes and candles, but they went CRAZY over the silly toppings. The second group was rolling on the floor and giggling

Verdict: Light and fluffy, the perfect cupcake. This is a fresh and sweet take on the "be yourself" cliche. You don't have anything like this in your picturebook collection - add it! show less

In the third installment of this charming series, Grace Stewart and her best friend Mimi return with a burning desire to get a pet dog; Mr. and Mrs. Stewart are, as parents always are, less enthusiastic, while Mimi's parents are unshakably opposed. The illustrations (all purportedly done by the amazing Grace herself) remain as delightful as ever, but Grace, still as empathetic and generous as ever, doesn't really shine in the way she did in Just Grace and Still Just Grace because her show more adventures are so lackluster.

While still worth reading, No. 3 in the series isn't as fabulous as the first two books. show less