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Beany #3
Beany and the Dreaded Wedding
With Susan Wojciechowski's sure-handed touch for capturing the real concerns of a regular kid, this enormously entertaining Beany book will have middle-grade readers laughing with recognition.
BEANY AND THE DREADED WEDDING finds Beany invited to be both flower girl and ring bearer at her cousin's wedding. Now Beany has plenty of new reasons for losing sleep!
BEANY AND THE DREADED WEDDING finds Beany invited to be both flower girl and ring bearer at her cousin's wedding. Now Beany has plenty of new reasons for losing sleep!
128 pages, Paperback
First published August 1, 2000
2 people are currently reading
29 people want to read
About the author
Susan Wojciechowski
17 books21 followersSusan Wojciechowski was a children's librarian for many years. "Every December," she says, "I read the same two or three classic Christmas stories aloud to the children. I tried to find another one I wanted to read and couldn't. So I wrote THE CHRISTMAS MIRACLE OF JONATHAN TOOMEY. I've never written anything that way before. It just came through me in a flood of inspiration and was finished in less than an hour." THE CHRISTMAS MIRACLE OF JONATHAN TOOMEY proved an enormous success, selling out its first printing long before Christmas Day. In addition, it won numerous honors, including the Christopher Award for "affirming the highest values of the human spirit" and Britain's prestigious Kate Greenaway Medal, and was a finalist for a National Book Award.
Following the success of THE CHRISTMAS MIRACLE OF JONATHAN TOOMEY, Susan Wojciechowski wrote the acclaimed middle-grade novel BEANY (NOT BEANHEAD)! This time, inspiration came when she was in bed with a cold. "Beany just stayed there, and by the time I was well, the stories were written," she says. Beany has since had more adventures in BEANY AND THE MAGIC CRYSTAL and BEANY AND THE DREADED WEDDING, both of which were honored with a Parents' Choice Gold Award, and more recently, BEANY GOES TO CAMP and BEANY AND THE MEANY.
Along with the time she spends writing, Susan Wojciechowski makes many visits to schools, where she shows slides and talks about her books and her own life. Among the information she shares with children is the fact that, like many of them, she had no interest in writing when she was growing up. "In regard to writing for children, I like to create realistic kid role models," she says, "like Beany, who is not perfect, but tries hard." A native of Rochester, New York, Susan Wojciechowski now lives in Pennsylvania with her husband.
Following the success of THE CHRISTMAS MIRACLE OF JONATHAN TOOMEY, Susan Wojciechowski wrote the acclaimed middle-grade novel BEANY (NOT BEANHEAD)! This time, inspiration came when she was in bed with a cold. "Beany just stayed there, and by the time I was well, the stories were written," she says. Beany has since had more adventures in BEANY AND THE MAGIC CRYSTAL and BEANY AND THE DREADED WEDDING, both of which were honored with a Parents' Choice Gold Award, and more recently, BEANY GOES TO CAMP and BEANY AND THE MEANY.
Along with the time she spends writing, Susan Wojciechowski makes many visits to schools, where she shows slides and talks about her books and her own life. Among the information she shares with children is the fact that, like many of them, she had no interest in writing when she was growing up. "In regard to writing for children, I like to create realistic kid role models," she says, "like Beany, who is not perfect, but tries hard." A native of Rochester, New York, Susan Wojciechowski now lives in Pennsylvania with her husband.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
July 11, 2023
I only took a star off because, while I think this is perfectly written, I can't imagine myself reading it again, just from the vicarious stress. (For what it's worth, our wedding was about as simple as it gets, because neither of us wanted to deal with all the things that could go wrong as happened in this book, however "tame" the mishaps.)
Besides the wedding shenanigans, there's her "best friend" Carol Ann, who acts quite a bit narcissistic/oblivious to social cues (I imagine she might be tagged as on the spectrum these days, but I don't want to diagnose anyone based on my complete absence of knowledge on the same). Beany says of Carol Ann:
"Carol Ann is my best friend because we live on the same street and sit next to each other on the school bus, but sometimes I don't really like her that much."
That feels like childhood friendship in a nutshell... :/
Also, internally screaming at their lemonade/treat stand, and her wanting to wear the flower girl dress LITERALLY ALL THE TIME, EVEN TO SCHOOL WITH THE BULLIES. D:
Still, perfect writing, because that feels EXACTLY like the majority of childhood bad ideas. The plus side is maybe a young reader thinking about some of these things might learn from Beany and do better! (...or not.) Also, the art is cute. :)
Besides the wedding shenanigans, there's her "best friend" Carol Ann, who acts quite a bit narcissistic/oblivious to social cues (I imagine she might be tagged as on the spectrum these days, but I don't want to diagnose anyone based on my complete absence of knowledge on the same). Beany says of Carol Ann:
"Carol Ann is my best friend because we live on the same street and sit next to each other on the school bus, but sometimes I don't really like her that much."
That feels like childhood friendship in a nutshell... :/
Also, internally screaming at their lemonade/treat stand, and her wanting to wear the flower girl dress LITERALLY ALL THE TIME, EVEN TO SCHOOL WITH THE BULLIES. D:
Still, perfect writing, because that feels EXACTLY like the majority of childhood bad ideas. The plus side is maybe a young reader thinking about some of these things might learn from Beany and do better! (...or not.) Also, the art is cute. :)
September 13, 2015
Maybe 2.5 stars.
Read aloud to the 5yo girl. Cute fluffy story, hints at romance (wedding couple) and centers around interactions/relationships between people... so it was right up her alley. She ate it up, and loved everything about it. The chapters might have been a bit long if she were old enough to be reading independently, so some young readers might need more division within chapters to be most successful. (I found the nostalgic reminiscing a bit odd because Beany is so young, but people can get rather sentimental around weddings so maybe that is a fairly normal?)
Read aloud to the 5yo girl. Cute fluffy story, hints at romance (wedding couple) and centers around interactions/relationships between people... so it was right up her alley. She ate it up, and loved everything about it. The chapters might have been a bit long if she were old enough to be reading independently, so some young readers might need more division within chapters to be most successful. (I found the nostalgic reminiscing a bit odd because Beany is so young, but people can get rather sentimental around weddings so maybe that is a fairly normal?)
September 1, 2012
This is such a cute book that I have read it about six times. Not even kidding. I wouldn't call it a quick read because I am a slow reader and those long chapters drive me crazy, but it's just such a cute book that I can't still stay mad at it.
March 3, 2016
I love this book. Beany is invited to be the flower girl at her cousins wedding. She wears the dress to school and ends up getting it dirty and tearing a button off. The dress is repaired the day of the wedding. I love this book because it was very easy to understand. It also had a great theme.
October 3, 2008
weird....babyish...
February 6, 2009
Kinda cute, but certainly not as engaging as CLEMENTINE...
August 26, 2009
It was about a girl who didn't want to be a flower girl in a wedding. I liked it.
May 27, 2011
My favorite part was when Phillip went like a monster on the keys of the organ. I liked it when she was walking down the aisle. I liked her dress because it is my favorite color - purple.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews