First and foremost, these are fantastic illustrations. The colors are dark and rich. They are vibrant and pop off the page. Vanessa Brantley-Newton’s illustrations make the book worth having just for them. They show a loving family doing what families do: getting up in the morning, teasing each other, eating and getting ready for parties. However, I am not sure what the party was. Is it really a premier to some event? Was it really a red-carpet affair? I am leaning towards, no, it is not a real red-carpet event, but it is a little girl’s imagination about a grand time with her mom on their special night. A night that is just the two of them.
Therefore, it is a red-carpet affair because the little girl and mother make it that.
However, since the author is the Oscar-nominated Quvenzhane Wallis, perhaps this is based on her own daughter and her experiences. In the end, that does not matter. What matters is it is a nice book.
This would have been a great Mother’s Day gift. However, it is one of those books that works anytime that someone is having a mother and daughter day: Because it is one of their birthdays. It is Mother’s Day. It is Sunday. It is raining.
Because of this anytime feeling, you could read it before having your own mother-daughter time out. Or because you cannot physically have a mother-daughter time out, you can have a special mother and daughter day sitting and reading.