WE ARE A CLASS

Spend a day with a most welcoming class of students.

Inside a classroom, we meet “hes and shes / And theys and mes. // With a teacher who’s / Mrs. or Mr. or Miss. / Or a teacher who’s / Dr. or Ms. or Mx. / A teacher loaded with teaching tricks!” Readers get an up-close glimpse of the ebbs and flows of a school day as students read, draw, nurture, discuss, debate, and do that hard work of childhood, play. “We’re movers and shakers. / Mammoth change makers.” Sanders employs lively, rhyming verse, each stanza loaded with uplifting, kid-engaging descriptions: “We arrive here / As hikers and bikers. / Gliders and riders. / Racers and chasers. / Challenge facers.” All this gentle chaos is lovingly brought to life by Abbo’s colorful, joy-infused illustrations, which also provide ample opportunity for discussion as readers see how a school day unfolds. Abbo depicts the students both as individuals and as part of a collective that’s “stronger together”—a lovely touch. Reflecting the best of the world we inhabit, this class is widely diverse in terms of skin tone, size, ability, and interests. Readers are welcomed and will surely see themselves within these pages, and that’s a beautiful thing.

An enthusiastically inclusive treatise for kids wondering—or worrying—about what to expect from school.