TIPTOE INTO KINDERGARTEN
by Jacqueline Rogers
An incantatory surge drives this simple story to an inspired place far beyond the elemental confines of the plot. Empathic watercolor illustrations depict a preschooler’s introduction to kindergarten; she goes on tiptoe into her older brother’s classroom: “I can be/so very still. Hiding, hiding,/I can watch now/what they’re doing/all day long.” As she explores, she gets drawn in, “On the chalkboard/I make letters/Take my turn/when they are done.” Sometimes the girl investigates on her own, with blocks and puzzles and a search for the bathroom; other times there is distant engagement: “Singing songs now/jumpy songs now/Clapping hands/and stomping feet.” By the end of the day, the girl is ready for her own first day in kindergarten, sometime soon. Children will doubtless appreciate not just the defusing of kindergarten angst, but the compassionate, vivid musicality of Rogers’s pages as well. (Picture book. 4-6)