A noisy classroom turns out to be a delightful place to learn.
Unconventional methods can help create a curious lifelong learner.
Shanté’s debut picture book focuses on a young child who is worried about entering the third grade. The second grade class is expected to be silent in the hallway, and their classroom is quiet and orderly. The narrator is apprehensive about entering Ms. Johnson’s “noisy” classroom, where the students listen to music! Taking a cue from Judith Viorst’s Alexander, the narrator tells Ma and Pa that having a job in Antarctica would be better than entering Ms. Johnson’s classroom and spends the summer preparing for the move. But when the time comes and third grade starts, the narrator finds that Ms. Johnson’s unconventional classroom, where lessons feel like play, isn’t so bad after all. Although the narrative text is filtered through this anxious child’s point of view, readers are likely to wonder why on earth this kid is so nervous about having a teacher who is manifestly so much more fun than their current one, but it does accurately represent a young child’s nervousness about change. Caregivers who are hoping to start a conversation on managing classroom fears would find this book a great place to start. Hawkins depicts a diverse school; the brown-skinned narrator is biracial and bicultural, with a Caribbean dad and Latinx mom. Both the second grade teacher and Ms. Johnson present black.
A noisy classroom turns out to be a delightful place to learn. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: May 5, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-5132-6292-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: West Margin Press
Review Posted Online: Feb. 17, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of...
Rabe follows a young girl through her first 12 days of kindergarten in this book based on the familiar Christmas carol.
The typical firsts of school are here: riding the bus, making friends, sliding on the playground slide, counting, sorting shapes, laughing at lunch, painting, singing, reading, running, jumping rope, and going on a field trip. While the days are given ordinal numbers, the song skips the cardinal numbers in the verses, and the rhythm is sometimes off: “On the second day of kindergarten / I thought it was so cool / making lots of friends / and riding the bus to my school!” The narrator is a white brunette who wears either a tunic or a dress each day, making her pretty easy to differentiate from her classmates, a nice mix in terms of race; two students even sport glasses. The children in the ink, paint, and collage digital spreads show a variety of emotions, but most are happy to be at school, and the surroundings will be familiar to those who have made an orientation visit to their own schools.
While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of Kindergarten (2003), it basically gets the job done. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: June 21, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-06-234834-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 3, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Handy advice for perpetually inquisitive children.
Interior decorator and TV personality Gaines invites readers to open their eyes and exercise their imaginations.
There’s a world to be explored out there—and only children can really take part. What does “looking for wonder” entail? Slowing down and looking up, around, and everywhere. At the outset, a group of eager, racially diverse young friends—including one who uses a wheelchair—are fully prepared for a grand adventure. They offer tips about how and where to look: Why, there’s a “grand parade” of marching ants! And, these kids add, perspective is key. A rainy day might signal gloom to some, but to those filled with wonder, showers bring “magic puddles for play”; a forest is “an enchanted world,” the ocean conceals “a spectacular city,” and the night sky boasts “extraordinary sights.” The takeaway: “Wonder is never in short supply.” It’s a robust, empowering message, as is the exhortation to “keep your mind open, and let curiosity guide the way.” Youngsters are also advised to share their discoveries. The upbeat narrative is delivered in clunky verse, but the colorful cartoonish illustrations brimming with activity and good cheer (including some adorable anthropomorphized animals in the backgrounds) make up for the textual lapses and should motivate readers to embark on their own “wonder explorations.”
Handy advice for perpetually inquisitive children. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Jan. 28, 2025
ISBN: 9781400247417
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Tommy Nelson
Review Posted Online: Feb. 15, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
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