Through the Looking Glass Children's Book Reviews
Louise the Big Cheese: Divine Diva
Illustrator: Diane Goode
Picture Book Series
For ages 6 to 8
Simon and Schuster, 2009 ISBN: 978-1416971801
Louise Cheese lives in a “modest” house with her sister and her mother and father. Her parents are quiet people who do not “like the limelight or a lot of fuss.” Louise is quiet the opposite. She wishes her parents were more glamorous, and more than anything she wishes she was “a big cheese.” She wishes she could have a room like the one her sister Penelope has. When will she be able to have lipsticks that are called “Ruby Melt” and “Divine Diva?” When will she be able to walk “down a red carpet,” and “become a big star?” Somehow, Louise has to dream big and become the “big cheese” that she is at heart.
Then one day Louise’s teacher at school announces that the school play this year is going to be Cinderella. What could be more perfect? Louise will get the part of Cinderella, of course, and then she will be on her way to Broadway in no time. However, things do not, for some inexplicable reason, work out as planned, and poor Louise’s plans are derailed.
With lashings of humor and delightfully charismatic illustrations, this delightful picture book looks at the nature of dreams. Sometimes, despite our hopes and all our hard work, they simply don’t quite come true, and sometimes this is not as bad an outcome as it seems at first.
