Nerd alert!

I think the Book Character Parade might be my favorite annual event at school, and I’m guessing  that after this morning, Annabelle and Sophie agree.

It took four separate shopping stops and a lot of planning to secure the materials, but I think we did a fine job among the three of us of executing the girls’ visions for their costumes.

Annabelle was Little Pea. You have not likely heard of “Little Pea,” a book by Amy Krause Rosenthal. I highly recommend it. I hate to give anything away, but what the heck. (Spoiler alert! I’ve always wanted to write that.)

Little Pea is a (you guessed it) little pea who has a great life except when it comes to mealtime. He hates to eat dinner, which for this little vegetable consists of candy. He longs for dessert — spinach.

Cute, huh? And with a good message. Annabelle didn’t care that no one recognized the book. She was one proud pea!

Sophie was, you guessed it, Junie B. Jones. (No bad grammar was used in the creation of the costume!) Not everyone figured that out, either. A mom friend of mine hustled her daughter into class a few minutes late this morning and emerged chuckling.

“Hey, Sophie’s shirt was all screwed up so I fixed it,” she said.

“No! She’s Junie B. Jones!” I said. “Quick, go back and screw it up again!”

She did. By the time the parade started, Sophie had removed her bow and glasses, and simply looked disheveled. But she was beaming.

It might not be as much fun later today, getting that green face paint off Annabelle.