Back-to-School picture book roundup

Many school-related picture books have arrived on my desk in the last week or two, but these are the only two I've really liked. 

Milgrim, David. 2011. Eddie Gets Ready for School. New York: Cartwheel (Scholastic).

David Milgrim has a real flair for simplicity.  I've never reviewed them, but his Ready-to-Read books featuring Pip and Otto are my favorites for very early readers.  Eddie Gets Ready for School is not an easy reader, but it's masterful in its simplicity.  It's nothing more than a checked-off list, one or two items per page, of all the things Eddie "needs" to do before school,

Put cat in backpack
Hug Mom
Take cat out of backpack
Find something else for show & tell

Some items (Eddie choosing in turn, the dog, goldfish, bird, and flat screen TV for show & tell), don't make the written list and are expressed only in the crisply drawn cartoon images on white space.  Mom and the dog are featured throughout the story.  Mom is happy and supportive, although root beer and cartoons for breakfast does try her patience a bit. So what does Eddie finally choose for a snack and show & tell?  You'll never guess!  This is a very funny back-to-school gem!



Murray, Laura. 2011. The Gingerbread Man Loose in the School. Ill. by Mike Lowery. New York: Putnam.

This gingerbread man is not running away as fast he can; he's running to catch up!  The children have cooked him up at school but, oh no! He's left behind when it's time for recess, but he's a smart cookie.  He'll find them,

I'll run and I'll run,
as fast as I can.
I can catch them! I'm their
Gingerbread Man!

Along the way, he loses a toe,

I'll limp and I'll limp,
as fast as I can. ...

and almost ends up as someone's snack,

I plopped on a sandwich
and chips with a crunch
OH NO! I cried out.
I'm in somebody's lunch!

 The story is told entirely in rhyme and presented comic style with panels and word bubbles. Cute and simple.  Kids will eat this one up.

Librarians will want to remove the poster before circulating this one.  Teachers will want to hang it in the classroom.

Author Laura Murray's website has some great Gingerbread Man extras - and a RT script coming soon!

Safe at Home

Lupica, Mike. 2008. Safe at home. New York: Philomel.
ISBN 9780399247163



Twelve-year-old Nick Crandall has just received the wish of every boy on his middle school JV baseball team - a chance to play varsity, a chance that no Hayworth School sixth-grader has ever been given. He should be thrilled; but he's not. Nick, adopted only three years earlier from a foster home, is happy on JV. He's a star player. He's among friends.

When he's drafted to fill in for an injured varsity player, he no longer feels "safe at home." In fact, he longer feels at home anywhere.

Safe at Home is part of the Comeback Kids series, written by famed sports columnist, author, and TV personality, Mike Lupica. The thrill of the game takes center field in this story as Nick Crandall learns confidence and an appreciation for the things he has, rather than a longing for those he doesn't.

Middle school boys and baseball fans should enjoy this short, baseball-themed novel.

Keisha Ann Can!

Kirk, Daniel. 2008. Keisha Ann Can! New York: Putnam.

Who can catch the school bus for the early-morning ride?

Who can wait in line until it's time to go inside?

Who can sit in front because she's teacher's biggest fan?

Who can stand to say the pledge?

KEISHA ANN CAN!

A bright, cheerful, rhyming story of a confident young girl in Kindergarten. Even when her blocks fall down or she misspells a word on the board, Keisha Ann takes it all in stride - trying again until she gets it right. Finishing with an upbeat message to the reader, "you can do them, too!" Keisha Ann Can! should help to dispel any first-day-of-school jitters.

The illustrations, also by Kirk, are bright watercolors of a smiling, multicultural class. The protagonist is an African American girl with pigtails. Whites, Latinos and Asians are also represented. Each painting (many are double-spreads) is filled with color and only two have any white space. The backgrounds show a lot of texture and almost appear to be sponge-painted. The text is large, with only a sentence or two per page. A great book to share with children entering PreK or Kindergarten.