Book Review: Claris: Fashion Show Fiasco by Megan Hess

Megan Hess has released many books over the years focused on fashion that features her illustrations. They started out as coffee table books, but over the years Megan has begun to release a series of children’s book written and illustrated by her. The best known children books by Megan are the Claris book series. The formal name of the series is Claris: The Chicest Mouse in Paris. It is about the adventures of Claris, a mouse that lives in Paris with a cat named Monsieur and a human family with a daughter called “The Brat” for obvious reasons.

I wanted to write a review about the books for a while, but I hesitated. The reason is because I don’t own all the books in the series. Due to reasons I will not go into, I’ve been acquiring as many books in the Claris series out of order. Because of this, I will be reviewing the books out of order. The first book I will be reviewing in the Claris series is the second book: Fashion Show Fiasco.

Since this a children’s book, I wanted to talk about the book’s illustrations as well as the plot of the book. Here is what the front of the book looks like…

And the back…

After opening the cover, there is a section where the owner of the book could write their name to show it’s their book. Also, if the book is given to someone as a gift, there is a place for someone to write the name of the giver down as well…

The illustrations are beautiful…

 

 

The book is about a fashion show that could go horribly wrong. The human family that lives in the apartment with Clairs and Monsieur receive an invitation to attend Chanel’s fashion show. It is an exciting time for the mother, as attending the show was a dream for her. Claris is also excited because that means not only can she and Monsieur can also attend the show, but she can wear her newest clothes to the show. In the fuss and commotion of preparing for the show, the invitation is lost and no one notices it is missing. In order to prevent the mother of the family missing out on her dream of attending a Chanel fashion show, Claris and Monsieur must return the invitation to the family before they discover the missing invitation.

The story is written with rhymes, which makes it really great for children and fun to read. The story is very cute and it combines adventure with fashion in a pleasant and enjoyable way. Claris is a likable character as is Monsieur. Even though Claris and Monsieur are the main characters, there are cameo appearances by other characters from Megan Hess’ children books including a character that didn’t have a book of her own. The character, a pig, showed up at the end of the book. In May, 2022, the character’s book was published. The book, called Abigail Fig the Secret Agent Pig, is new, but the fact she made a cameo appearance in this book, which was published in 2019, shows the larger universe of the story and how each character can fit into Claris’ story and Claris into other character’s stories.

As expected, the art work is beautiful. The illustration style is slightly different than Megan’s known style in order to make it fit for a children’s book. Still, Megan’s style is still obviously there and is gorgeous.

I really love this book. From the illustrations to the story, it’s a very cute and enjoyable story. This book would be perfect for girls who love fashion, but it could also be great for boys as well. Despite the fact this is a book with a lot of fashion, it is an adventure book. This would make it great for boys as well. And, of course, adults with a love of children’s books and Megan Hess’ art will love it as well!

Well, that’s all for now! Thank you for reading!