I Had a Favorite Dress: A Picture Book

Author Boni Ashburn and illustrator Julia Denos’s I Had a Favorite Dress is a fresh, stylish, and “endearing” (Wall Street Journal) picture book about growing up and keeping hold of your favorite memories.

“Will speak to young fashionistas.” —Kirkus Reviews

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.

“What could have been yet another example of kindergarten consumerism instead becomes one of resourcefulness and resilience.” —New York Times