Review by Booklist Review
Twenty different children go through the different stages of getting dressed and ready for the first day of school. They don't know they will become one class, yet many of their experiences mirror one another. Ashburn's rhyming text rollicks along with the children's varied emotional states: Four are eager, up since dawn. / Three just sit / and yawn / and yawn. / Some are grumpy. / Some keep sleeping. / They don't hear the clock beep-beep-ing! The diverse group of kids run the gamut from excited to fearful, focused to distracted, and Gee shows them in vignettes that capture their uniqueness. The pencil and digitally colored illustrations offer lots of detail, often putting several characters alongside one another so readers can contrast their concurrent experiences take, for example, the full page of kids' socks, some matching, some not so much. Though individual kids are shown having a difficult time, everyone eventually arrives at school and, at the end, seems content to be part of a class.--Seales, Stephanie Copyright 2016 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Ashburn (I Had a Favorite Hat) turns her attention to the preparations that go into getting ready for school, bouncing among 20 children as they wake up, get dressed, and have breakfast, with varying speeds and degrees of enthusiasm ("Five begin to look alive./ This one's sure he won't survive./ One is tickled. Two look worried./ One woke late and now she's hurried!"). Gee (Today with Meg and Ted) turns in some excellent work, strongly evoking personalities for each of the children through body language, eccentric clothing choices, and a bevy of homey details that will resonate with a broad range of readers. Indeed, the book's biggest strength is its subtle recognition of difference: even though these kids are all headed to the same place, their individual family situations, moods, and interests all play roles in bringing them there. Ages 4-8. Illustrator's agent: Kelly Sonnack, Andrea Brown Literary. (July) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
PreS-K-Twenty children from 19 different homes are getting ready for the first day of school in this illustrated story in rhyme. Some of the students-to-be are eager, others are nervous, but there are plenty of antics all around. "Three have pancakes./Juice for eight./Two eat toast./One drops a plate. Some have butterflies;/they just nibble./One's distracted-/dribble.dribble." The children are from diverse backgrounds, and Gee skillfully infuses their faces with emotion in the digitally colored pencil drawings. With such a variety of experiences early in the morning, viewers will be able to identify with the characters depicted. It's also fun to follow the individual kids as they get ready, meet up with friends, and make their way to class. VERDICT An appealing look at one group of students who come together to form a class. Suitable for small group sharing, but most first-time students will want to pore over the engaging artwork.-Jennifer Steib Simmons, Anderson County Library, SC © Copyright 2016. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review
Four are eager, up since dawn. / Three just sit and yawn and yawn." Spare, trip-proof rhymes describe the morning routine before the first day of school as experienced by a bevy of what appear to be new kindergartners. Together, Ashburn's rhymes and Gee's tidy thumbnails of twenty-odd individualized kids make the point that it's okay to march to one's own beat. (c) Copyright 2017. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
