A bubblegum pink jacket with glittery type will catch the eye of aspiring leading ladies and Fancy Nancy fans. Inside, they'll easily identify with the drama-loving protagonist of Primavera's (Auntie Claus) buoyant tale. Small in stature, Louise is sure that landing the role of Cinderella in her school play is her ticket to Broadway (her motto: “Dream big!”). Alas, her best friend Fern gets that part, while Louise is cast as a mouse, resulting in a spat between the girls. Caldecott Honor artist Goode's (When I Was Young in the Mountains) playful watercolors with whimsical and expressive black outlines capture Louise's mercurial personality, as when the would-be diva holds up the broken tail of her itchy, secondhand mouse costume in disgust, while Fern, in a “frilly pink big-cheese Cinderella ball gown,” delightedly rehearses her crowning line. Their friendship is restored in the end, as Louise rescues her pal when Fern freezes and forgets her lines. Hand-lettered dialogue balloons and humor-filled renderings of Louise's show-biz dreams, bursting with pink and magenta, drive home the heroine's larger-than-life outlook. Ages 4–8. (Sept.)