Publication date: 2023
Ghostwriter? No, the text copyright is for Ann M. Martin
Illustrators: Katy Farina, with color by Braden Lamb
Synopsis:
Karen's going through an awkward phase: not really used to her glasses yet, teeth falling out and growing in unevenly--she feels ugly. Though her family and friends reassure her, she wants to change something. Her parents agree that she can get a manicure and haircut at a salon. The pampering initially makes Karen feel good, but the haircut ends up vastly different from what she wanted (this despite her bringing in a reference picture--I'd be so upset!). Karen is so embarrassed by her hair. She tries to stay strong, but her class definitely notices. She gets teased, and her friend Hannie says that with the haircut, Karen can't be in her "wedding" she has planned with another classmate. Karen dresses in her best outfit and tries going by a different, elegant name (Tiffanie, then Krystal, then Gazelle, then Chantal), but everyone has trouble remembering--except Ricky, who initially teased Karen's new appearance. But Hannie still says Karen isn't pretty enough for the wedding.
Karen keeps persisting though, and her perseverance pays off. She starts getting used to some things (like her glasses), and other things start to get better (her hair grows out a little, her teeth start growing in). After two weeks, she feels like Karen again, and Hannie has an epiphany about how unfair she's been to Karen--Hannie herself falls riding her bike and knocks out two teeth. She assumes her "fiancé" Scott won't want to "marry" her anymore, but he says he's "marrying" her, not her teeth. The "wedding" continues as planned, although when David Michael, as the minister, calls for the groom to kiss the bride, both Hannie and Scott protest in disgust.
Perhaps most surprising, Ricky approaches Karen...and asks if they can get "married" some day.
Continuity related to BSC books:
Emily Michelle isn't talking much.
Karen's relationship with Nannie is briefly featured, and it's sweet. I was very close with my grandmother, who was technically my step-grandmother. She passed away a few months ago, and it's nice to see a loving grandparent-grandchild relationship without regard to blood relation.
Misc:
Martin dedicates this book in honor of "the birth of Maxwell Joseph Lieb." Farina dedicates it to "everyone who is finding themselves."
I never played Lovely Ladies like Karen likes to, but a good friend and I did have "tea parties" in first grade at lunchtime. We'd pour whatever drinks into our cups and declare the "tea" a "special family recipe."
Karen's haircut in the graphic novel does look odd on her, and it's uneven. It's also so short that she can't style it much, and will take a while to grow out. But it's not the ugly mullet of the original chapter book!
I never got the thing with the fake weddings that Karen's whole class seems to do. In second grade and younger, there were boys I thought were cute and there were also boys I was friends with, but we never even pretended to date, let along have fake weddings. Although one couple got married a few months before we all graduated high school...
