Cathy Breisacher

Petunia Pepper's Picture Day is a morally engaging story about how outside appearances are not that important.

Petunia is determined that this years school pictures are going to be perfect! Every school picture she has taken to date, has been marred in some way, according to Petunia. From the powder puffy hair to her puffy pink eye, Petunia just hasn't had much luck in taking a good picture.

On the morning of the big day, Petunia is dressed, primped and preemed and feeling good about herself but when the syrup dribbles on her lap at breakfast and she misses her school bus, you just know that Petunia's day is not going as she had hoped. A couple adventures later and Petunia arrives at school completely in a mess and cannot get her photo taken at all. Heartbroken, Petunia sits and wathces as her class take their photos. However, the next day, Petunia is in the newspaper and she becomes the "star" of the hour.

I loved the bright, colourful and cartoony-like illustrations in the book. The moral message that you are who you are, is evident as you read. This is a delightful, value-building book to read to your youngsters . There are many phonetically sounding aspects of the book, like the frequent use of the letter P, as well as, biblical scriptures to back up the message that the book is trying to convey!… (mehr)

Petunia Pepper has never had much luck when it came to getting her school picture taken. In her first ever picture she had puffy hair, the next year a missing tooth, and last year she had a case of pink eye. Petunia wants a perfect picture Mom can proudly place on the piano in the parlor. Petunia prepares to make sure picture day is perfect. Her hair looks great, the bow is just right, her shoes polished to a nice sheen, and her purple dress is beautiful. Petunia is sure her second grade picture will be perfect. This year, Petunia will look the way she wants to look.

Petunia finds out she cannot always control how she looks. She gets into so much misfortune on the way to school her teacher will not allow her to get a picture taken this year. How awful for Petunia. The next morning she awakes to find that all the trials she faced the day before have made her a hero. Her picture is on the front page of the local paper. At school, all her classmates want her signature on their copy of the paper. Petunia had a perfect picture day after all.

This is a cute story about accepting yourself as you are. Petunia never liked the way she looked on the outside, forgetting what she looked like on the inside. She also forgot that God made her just the way he wanted her, so everyday can be a perfect picture day. When her picture was in the paper, wearing the same outfit her teacher scoffed at, Petunia realized that “every day can be a perfect picture day.” It is a nice lesson in acceptance. The illustrations, which show Petunia’s mishaps in all their glory, add to the humor. Kids will laugh at each thing Petunia goes through on her way to school and may identify with not being what you want to be. With this book, parents have the opportunity to help their child understand how perfect they are, just the way God made them.

Note: received from Net Galley, courtesy of the publisher… (mehr)