Betty's Wedding: A Photograph Album of My Big Sister's Wedding

An unnamed girl keeps a photo-albumtantamount to a scrapbookof all the festivities surrounding her older sister's wedding to Jim, from the day the engagement is announced, to the samples of the dress fabrics, to the moment when the sleeping narrator is carried upstairs to her new bedroom (the one the bride vacated). In a 1920s setting, this book has the look of a vintage wedding, interspersing sepia-toned photos with antiqued color spreads, and with careful attention to historical details and superstitionsthe narrator finds a button in her piece of wedding cake. The only misstep in this volume is a minor affectationreaders will long to know the name of this anonymous girl; she perfectly expresses both a child's pleasure in the hoopla and chronicles the innocent ironies that the day inspires. All ages. (June)