ONE HUNDRED DAYS (PLUS ONE)

The celebration of the 100th day of class is a popular addition to the school calendar, reflected in a recent spate of read-alouds with centenary themes. McNamara (Too Many Valentines, below) joins the centennial bandwagon with this first offering in a classroom-based easy reader series featuring a small group of multi-ethnic first-graders from Robin Hill School. This story features a red-haired girl named Heather who is excited about the planned celebration with each child invited to bring 100 tiny items to school to share with the class. She gathers 100 buttons of all sorts, but then is unable to attend the party because she is sick. The class delays the celebration to wait for Heather’s return, and each child then shares 101 items on the next school day. McNamara’s clever, humorous story is a natural for sharing on the 101st day of school, with opportunities for related math activities (counting, sorting, adding, and learning about time), but it also serves well for children who are just beginning to read simple stories on their own. Gordon’s loose watercolor and ink drawings are full of tiny, humorous details, such as Hannah’s buttons flying all over after she sneezes or 100 spiders escaping from their box on a child’s desk. The Robin Hill School stories will find a ready audience on easy reader shelves in both school and public libraries. (Easy reader. 5-7)