“From music, show-and-tell and crafts to storytime, lining up and getting ready to go home, all the standard markers of school are here…except for metaphors that are meaningful to children.” from you are my wonders
to feel odd on your first day.” Slightly creepy tongue-in-cheek humor abounds, as it did in the author’s Bobby Bramble Loses His Brain (2009), and is sure to elicit chuckles. Is Miss Clops winking or blinking? Will the class ever find Gary, a ghost, in their game of hide-and-seek? Which of the two-headed girl’s heads will win the bubble-blowing contest? And most importantly, will Norm ever fit in, or will he be normal forever? Keane’s artwork nicely complements the text, his monsters coming off less as scary freaks out to get Norm than as regular kids who look a little different on the outside. Their faces are childlike and expressive—not frightening at all—and the illustrations ably help readers decode vocabulary. Not just for the first day of school; this is sure to appeal year-round. (Early reader. 5-8)
YOU ARE MY WONDERS Love, Maryann Cusimano Illus. by Ichikawa, Satomi Philomel (32 pp.) $16.99 | Jul. 1, 2012 978-0399-25293-8 Series: You Are My…, 4
More like Love’s second book (You Are My Miracle, 2005) than her first (You Are My I Love You, 2001) in the You Are My… series, this fourth, school-themed one falls flat, especially since most of its intended audience does not yet attend school. “I am your teacher; / you are my school child. // I am your welcome; / you are my running wild.” And so a new group of students gets to know their teacher, a kindly gray elephant who ushers them through their first day of school. Ichikawa’s weather nicely echoes the feelings that accompany those new to school—the rainy day giving way to lovely sunshine that allows the class to get outside. Her stuffed-animal students are a bit of a tougher read, as their facial expressions and body positions are stiffer than the usual anthropomorphized-animal picture-book fare. From music, show-and-tell and crafts to storytime, lining up and getting ready to go home, all the standard markers of school are here…except for metaphors that are meaningful to children. While many kids will not have trouble understanding that they are the “doublequick” to their teacher’s “go slow,” few will glean meaning from being a “Popsicle stick” to her “glue.” And while each of the rhyming verses flows on its own, together, the inconsistent rhythms and sometimes-forced rhymes make for an uneven read-aloud. Those nervous about attending school for the first time will not find much comfort here, though teachers might like the sentiment. (Picture book. 3-6)
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1 june 2012
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TEDDY BEAR, TEDDY BEAR, SCHOOL DAY MATH
McGrath, Barbara Barbieri Illus. by Nihoff, Tim Charlesbridge (32 pp.) $16.95 | paper $7.95 | $6.99 e-book Jul. 1, 2012 978-1-58089-420-3 978-1-58089-421-0 paperback 978-1-60734-460-5 e-book Series: McGrath Math In the bears’ third outing, the counters, classroom staple that they are, invite readers to follow the cadence of the familiar jump-rope rhyme and answer some simple math questions. McGrath fixes the who’s-my-audience problem that plagued Teddy Bear Math (2011) by returning to the youngest math learners, but her focus could still use some tightening. Readers are challenged to count, then skip-count, identify a group of four, and tell whether there are fewer of this color or that one. A balance scale allows children to identify which of two bears weighs more. Readers are also asked to tell which group has more than five, complete two different patterns, and solve one addition and one subtraction problem. Throughout, McGrath’s rhyming verses may encourage audiences to do more than math: “Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear, / a great big laugh. / Which teddy bear / is a bear in half?” The scattershot approach does not go deeply into any one math concept or afford readers any sense of continuity or pattern. As in the previous two titles, Nihoff ’s bears coordinate well with the text; this time his hand-drawn digital illustrations are accompanied by collaged found objects. Cutesy, but ultimately lacking in substance—there is little here that will draw children (or teachers) for a second reading. (Math picture book. 3-6)
HARRY GOES TO DOG SCHOOL
Menchin, Scott Illus. by Menchin, Scott Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins (32 pp.) $16.99 | Jul. 1, 2012 978-0-06-195801-4 Menchin introduces readers to a boy who has taken pretending to be a dog to
new levels. From growling at the dinner table and barking at cats to licking his sister goodnight, Harry makes it clear that he would rather be a dog than a boy. When it is time to send him to school, the Pavlov Royal Academy seems the perfect choice. Harry loves his new classmates and excels at all the morning subjects—sitting, rolling over and fetching. But lunchtime, with its unappetizing food, is a turning point for Harry, who afterward wants to draw and build with blocks. While his new friends are all napping, the teacher wrangles sleepless Harry into being her
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