Lilly's Big Day by Kevin Henkes

As an aspiring teacher I found the premise of this book to be very interesting. The main character, Lilly, has a teacher named Mr. Slinger who is marrying the school nurse. I thought it was very intriguing that the author would choose to make a picture book about a teacher marrying another member of the faculty. I immediately wondered if this is an appropriate topic for students. The illustrations are very simplistic, and I can understand why this book would be classified in the Fantasy genre. All of the characters are mouses, yet they display human characterisitics such as wearing clothes, getting married, and talking. Another part of this book I found interesting was the way Lilly's father was depicted. There is a particular illustration in the book where her father is holding a bottle of red wine, two wine glasses, and wearing a purple yin-yang shirt. Lilly's father is portrayed as a very modern and laid back dad in this story. Admittedly, this book does have a good sense of humor. For example, there is a particular scene where Lilly dreams of being a flower girl, draws a self portrait, and then claims to be "Better than the bride!" In the end, the story is very encouraging and has a theme of being a good person. I would recommend this book to all readers because it was quite entertaining and a fun read.