Iris and the Aloha Wedding Adventure

WOOOOO check it out!!!! Is this not the cutest??? The creators of the book thought I might like to review it and I'm not sure they realized at the time that I was originally from Hawaii. So when I discovered that 'Iris and the Aloha Wedding Adventure' takes place on the island of Maui, there was a fair amount of squealing involved. (on my end)

Julia read this book, and the other one that was sent along ('Rosie and the Wedding Day Rescue') the moment I placed them in her hands. She read them super speedy quick and ADORED them. She didn't want to read them with me, she wanted to do it on her own.

(so I just read them all by my lonesome, sniff, but they're so delightful it was fun anyway and all the bits about meeting the mayor of Maui, and MENEHUNES (Hawaiian leprechauns) made me smile big.)

I didn't realize that these books are part of a planned series, which all center around little girls who find themselves, through various circumstances, performing as flower girls in different weddings. The flower girls makes friends with one another and organize a club to stay connected, which they do via pen pal letters and video chats.

Julia lost NO TIME in seeking out the Flower Girl World website, which is ADORABLE. She seriously loved it. Like, loooooooooooooved it. The site is really well done! Facts about the various flower girls, and the cutest info cards about each girl, which you can print out. Julia printed them out and then glued the paper onto cardboard, making "Flower Girl ID cards", which she then passed around to her friends.

The Hawaiian adventure, omygolly was it a cute read. Just the right amount of adventure for a young girl. You wouldn't think so much could go wrong with an impending wedding, but let's just say that the when the flower girls decide to set a menehune trap......things get messy. But thanks to an extremely efficient Hawaiian grandma, the wedding goes off perfectly, the girls perform the hula, learn how to make leis, and celebrate new friendships.

The chapters are short, with drawings on every other page. I think girls 1st grade and up would just FLIP over this series! I love the message, which does not center around dressing up and looking pretty. The stories focus on friendships, on finding confidence in one's abilities, and on doing what you can to assist others. Really charming, Julia and I can't wait to see more of these......