September is synonymous in the minds of young and old with the beginning of school. Most adults vividly remember the fear and excitement of school's start. Now, as parents, many want to prepare their children for the transition from home to school. Books can ease the transition and help with trouble-spots in a child's schooling.
"School" may begin very early for a child whose working parents place their children in child care. Still other parents may feel that a "school" setting provides the peer growth that a young child needs. Children may or may not need help transitioning. My son dashed for all the colorful activities and never bothered to say good-bye. My daughter cried for weeks before she adjusted.
Explaining the concept of school is difficult. Photographer Jill Krementz has done a marvelous job of picturing a day care situation in her Katharine Goes to Nursery School. The board book format makes it easy for little fingers to turn pages and view another small child enjoying a great many activities. Katharine paints, uses a cubby, talks to a guinea pig and plays on the playground... and more. Katherine's enthusiasm is obvious and inspiring. She is rather like a pre-school tour director showing the cheerful side of elements common to many situations. The setting and activities are as colorful as the Krementz full-color photos. Ages 2-4. (Random House, $3.95)
Mr. Rogers similarly introduces child care to the young child. The text of Going to Day Care has an emotive, calming tone and the illustrations give balanced racial representation while comforting children through saying good-bye, delineating differences between home and school and describing the pleasures of taking care of younger children. Ages 2-4. (Putnam, $11.95, $5.95)
Harlow Rockwell presents My Nursery School with clear simple drawings that examine the wealth of activities children can experience in school. Ages 2-4. (Greenwillow,$11.95 , Penguin, $3.95)
Anne Sibley O'Brien is masterful at catching the emotions behind issues of a small child. In her board book, Come Play With Us, we see Rachel going to day-care for the first time with her father. Not only is the father shown in this participatory role, the children, not the teacher, are the ones who show the crying Rachel how much fun she can have at school. At the end Rachel's sureness of her father's return is accented. Ages 2-4. (Holt, $3.95)
We Play by Phyllis Hoffman is a book of very few words, but those present are well-chosen, well-rhymed and perfectly describe the day of a pre-schooler from arrival to departure. Included in activities are hugging, munching, and punching and poking at clay. Illustrations by Sarah Wilson are warm and comforting and are as much in child-view as Ms. Hoffman's text. Ages 1-3. (A Charlotte Zolotow Book, Harper and Row, 1990)
In Anna Marie's Blanket, Joanne Barkan sets up a wonderful reversal of this situation. When Anne Marie tells her blanket she'll be going to school without it, the blanket is disraught! It feels sorry for itself, sulks, cries until the wise Anna Marie trains it to care for all her dolls and stuffed animals that will be left behind. The night before nursery school begins, the blanket takes back its insults and can talk to Anna Marie about all the fun she'll have the next day. Humor and feeling go hand in hand to make this a story that will make a pre-schooler laugh and be consoled at the same time. I especially loves the way Deborah Maze portrays the pouting blanket. Ages 2-5. (Barron's,1990)
One of the major problems threatening a young child preparing for school is being left. Dorothy Corey's You Go Away shows children of many races and ages facing many different situations of leaving. Peek-a-boo, being thrown up into the air, leaving a room and a grocery aisle lane are portrayed as well as several school situations. Words and illustrations are simple making this book accessible for a very young child. There is a strong emotive tone that reveals the fears as well as the reassurance of parent's safe return. Ages 2-4. (Whitman, $9.75)
In Barney is Big by Nicki Weiss, Barney is excited about his first day of nursery school, until his mother informs him that she is not going with him. Weiss shows us his apprenhension via picture and word. Barney's mother gives him lots of mothering and Barney plays at being a baby until he feels big enough to take on school by himself. Ages 3-4. (Greenwillow, $11.95)
World renowned children's book advocate Dorothy Butler knows the mind of a young child. She shows us this in her first picture book My Brown Bear Barney. The young heroine has always taken her brown bear Barney with her for support. On shopping, gardening, beaching and visiting excursions, Barney is always part of her life. When her parents tell her that bears don't go to school, she knows that somehow, she will take Barney. Ages 2-4. (Greenwillow, $11.95)
If a pre-schoooler isn't upset at the prospects of going to school, he or she may be upset at being the sibling left at home. This is just the case in Emily McCully's School. The young wrist-wearing mouse protagonist is left behind. Ages 2-4. (Harper and Row, $11.95
School accessories are envy items for the left-at-home sibling. In Jeannette Caines' I Need A Lunch Box, a pre-school boy can put up with the fact that his sister gets new pencils, pens, and erasers, and a new raincoat and umbrella. But he is made miserable by the fact that his sister is given a lunch box and he isn't. Not only can he imagine all kinds of uses for a lunch box, but he dreams of splendid designs. His fantasies are made all the more magical by the stunningly brilliant-colored art work of illustrator, Pat Cummings. On the first day of school, the boy's resentment turns to joy when his father presents him with his very own lunch box. Ages 3-6. (Harper and Row, $12.95)
School can be scary before you even get there. What about riding to school in the big yellow monster of a school bus? If you have a child who is the least bit intimidated by these beasts of burden, introduce them to Donald Crew's School Bus. Mr. Crews, a strongly graphic artist, obviously intrigued with the black and yellow objet d'art, explains size, purpose, and a day in the life of a school bus. Buses are by the end of this book friends, not foes. Ages 3-6. (Greenwillow, $11.75, Penguin, $3.95)
Learning begins at home. The little girl in Juli Barbato's From Bed to Bus, must learn a variety of things before she can self-sufficiently prepare for school. Difficulties of bathing, brushing, dressing, grooming, eating and organization are all discussed. Throughout helpful hints punctuate the humorous illustrations creating a book to begin before beginning. Ages 4-6. (Macmillan, $10.95)
Perhaps one of the most important preparations for school is never listen to the advice of a sibling. At least that's what Annabelle discovers in Amy Schwartz's Annabelle Swift, Kindergartner. Lucy, a third grader, has coached Annabelle on the most important facets of kindergarten--geography, counting, colors ("This is Raving Scarlet"), etc. When Annabelle puts her training into practice, she discovers that she herself has the real keys for success. The book is filled with humor that child and adult will enjoy together. Comical illustrations add to the merriment. Ages 4-7. (Orchard, $12.95)
One of the most frightening things about going to kindergarten is the expectations. Imagine walking into a classroom of thirty adults you've never met and thinking that you are to spend a year with them. Miriam Cohen's protagonist, Jim, wonders as you might, Will I Have a Friend? Jim sees all the children in the classroom enjoying each other. Finally, Jim does find a friend and in fact, in this begins a series of books about Jim and his classmates. They support each other through a number of Miriam Cohen books that deal with school and life issues as well. Jim's friends may very well become book friends that guide your children through school problems. Ages 3-6. (Macmillan and Greenwillow from $2.95 to $11.95)
Allan Ahlberg's has created a catalogue of school in his Starting School. The racially-balanced class shows everything from cubbies to activities throughout the year. This detailed book can initiate much discussion of school expectations, fears, and joys and a way to calm those feelings as well. Ages 4-6. (Viking, $11.95)
Ann Schweninger's Off to School! tells the story of a little bunny, Button Brown, and his first day of school. Through warm illusrations and ballon-speeches we see the warmth of Button's home, his sister's envy and his parent's support. Though the school situation is new to Button, his teacher and peers show the same kinds of empathetic feelings. Ages 4-6. (Viking, $9.95,Puffin, $3.95)
In Bad Boris Goes to School by Susie Jenkin-Pearce, Boris, the elephant begins with a negative attitude about school. Throughout the exciting phases of preparation, he repeats "I hate school." But when he actually goes, Boris comforts a fellow student, shares, plays, cleans and enjoys school so much that he doesn't even mind being piced up a little late. Ages 4-6. (macmillan, $12.95)
School is more than subject learning. It's learning to get along with people---like teachers. There are all kinds of teachers in the world. One year Marc Brown's Arthur has Teacher Trouble. Arthur has the strictest teacher in the school. He gives piles of homework and one- hundred-word-spelling-tests. For Arthur, his hard work finds reward in his winning the spelling contest and satisfaction that his mocking sister, D.W., will suffer this teacher the following year. Ages 5-8. (Little Brown,$13.95, $4.95)
John Burningham has created the model of a strict teacher in John Patrick Norman McHennessy- the boy who was always late. On his way to school, John runs always runs into delays--a satchel-grabbing crocodile, a trouser-tearing lion, a tidal wave. His stern teacher never believes John and punishes him severely. One day, John arrives on time to find the teacher complaining of capture by a hairy gorilla. The turn-around ending is as much fun as seeing the villain punished. Ages 4-6. (Crown,$12.95)
Teachers might be fine, but what about substitutes. Miss Nelson is the sweetest teacher ever, but when her pupils ignore her suddenly, Miss Nelson is Missing! Harry Allard and James Marshall have created the most horrible (and horribly funny) substitute in the witchy Miss Viola Swamp. Anti-hero Swamp now teaches lessons in three books, always with good (and funny) results. Ages 5-8. (Houghton Mifflin,$12.95, Scholastic, $2.95)
A less threatening, but equally entertaining substitute teacher is in James Howe's The Day the Teacher Went Bananas. There is a terrible mix-up and the substitute is sent to the zoo and a gorilla becomes the teacher. The children are delighted with their new teacher, sad to see him leave and even go to lunch with him the following day. Illustrations are bright and filled with the fun the children have. Ages 4-6. (Dutton, $11.95, $3.95)
For Tomie de Paola, his art teacher played an important role in his life. The Art Lesson is his autobiographical picture book revealing a teacher who went beyond conventional practice of copying art to see the needs of her talented student. Ages 4-6. (Putnam, $13.95)
Imagination, an important skill to learn, can happen even before a child gets to school. In Ann Jonas' The Trek, a child en route to school imagines animals everywhere. Not only is this is a great participatory book, it's a book that can be put into practice. Ages 4-8. (Greenwillow,$13.95, $3.95)
One of the traditional things that can happen at school is a loss of self-worth. It could have happened to Babette Cole's Errol in Three Cheers for Errol. He is bad at math, science, spelling, art and his classmates call him dumb. Yet Errol finds that he is good at sports and his love of this makes him a hero to his under-dog school and for any child who questions his own value. in the world Ages 4-7. (Putnam, $13.95)
Some of the most important life lessons come out of classroom peer relations. Not all are pleasant and it helps a child to see a character battle and sometimes, even conquer, these issues.
Four- year-old Edward has a hard time at school and this leads him to believe that School Isn't Fair. Author Patricia Baehr shows her protagonist in a number of difficult situations. Sometimes he's the youngest, or the smallest, or the shortest, sometimes there's not enough clay, or room in a boat, or someone is a bully. Common to all poor Edward's problems is that he hasn't a friend...until he extends himself and finds his own talent and a best friend in the process. Illustrator R.W. Alley shows as wide a color-spectrum as Baehr shows problem-spectrum. Ages 2-5. (Macmillan, $13.95)
The Cut-ups by James Marshall are two kids "turn their mothers old before their time". Smaller crimes like turning the bathroom into a swimming pool turn to larger crimes when they meet Mary Frances. Mary Frances drives her own sports car, builds rockets, and lives next to assistant principal Lamar J. Spurgle, who has had "enough of kids to last him a lifetime." At last the cut-ups have met a worthy opponent! And for children who can't get enough of the cut-ups, author-illustrator James Marshall creates a sequel full of laughs in The Cut-ups Cut Loose. (Viking, 11.95) Ages 5-8. (Viking, $10.95, Scholastic, $3.95)
James Marshall introduces children to another character they might meet in classrooms in Fox at School. Fox is the main character of five I- Can-Read books. On the surface, Fox is proud and secure. Underneath, he is just like all of us. As in most Marshall books, humor and wit teem. Ages 5-8. (Dial,$8.89, $4.95)
Unfortunately, schoolmates children meet aren't always full of humor and fun. There are others who cause pain, most times unintentionally. Before being in school long, your child will probably experience rejection. This emotion dominates many school memories, brings continual hurt through life and is the subject of Holly Keller's Lizzie's Invitation. Lizzie does not get a birthday invitation from Kate. She tries to finagle one, draws angry pictures and finally goes home feeling sick. On the rainy day of the party, sad Lizzie goes out to play, meets a new friend who was not invited either and they have a marvelous time together. Keller's words and illustrations capture all the nuances of this poignant situation. Ages 3-7. (Greenwillow, $11.75)
Schoolmates tease about everything. In Bernard Waber's But Names Will Never Hurt Me the main character is a young girl named Alison Wonderland. You can imagine how much fun her classmates have with her name. There follows a long explanation from her parents of all the love with which they gave her name. That and seeing the lack of success she's had with fighting back, takes the hurt out of the name. Ages 4-8. (Houghton Mifflin, $13.95)
Sometimes teasing turns to bullying. In Judith Caseley's Ada Potato, Ada loves music. A gang of older bullies hassle her as she walks home everyday until she stops lessons and even stops playing. Though the ending is a bit unrealistic, Ada solves her problems by sharing them with her family and friends. Illustrations have a strong emotive tone, nicely balancing humor and warmth with less happy feelings. Ages 5-8. (Greenwillow, $11.95)
Bailey, the Big Bully by Lizi Boyd shows a bully who wholly controls his peers. Until, that is, Max appears on the scene. Max is undaunted by Bailey's threats and ends by teaching Bailey how to be a friend. Ages 4-8. (Viking, $11.95)
In Rosemary Wells' Timothy Goes to School , Timothy begins school with a great deal of excitement only to be plagued by a subtle bully. Claude constantly critiques Timothy, but to Timothy's chagrin, Claude is seemingly perfect. Timothy is miserable until he finds a friend who is persecuted by Claude's female counterpart. The two friends find comfort and laughter in supporting each other and comparing tales. Ages 4-6. (Dial,$9.89, $3.95)
One of the best bully stories I've ever read is Hans Wilhelm's Tryone the Horrible. Boland, a small dinosaur, is plagued by the monstrous Tyrone. Finally after attempts of extending friendship and fighting, Boland finally triumphs over Tyrone by wit. It is by no accident that Tyrone is pictured as a Tyrannosaurus Rex, a perfect image for this kind of menacing strong-arm. Characterizations of dinosaurs are as much fun as the drama created by their actions. Ages 2-8. (Scholastic, $10.95)
Loudmouth George handles a similar situation in a similar manner in Nancy Carlson's Loudmouth George and the Sixth-Grade Bully. Carlson's illustrations are full of warmth and feelings and kids can't get enough of the heros and heroines she creates. Fighting a bully alone can be traumatizing. I love George's growth in finally deciding to share his problem with a friend. Ages 5-8. (Carolrhoda,$9.95, Penguin, $3.95)
In children's literature, you may not always find typical school situations. Schools are sometimes a setting for laughter, as they are in real life.
You may find some odd characters in schools, like Mr. Jones from Amy Schwartz's Bea and Mr. Jones. Mr. Jones is as fed up with his advertising firm as his kindergarten daughter is fed up with school. . . and so, to both reader and characters' delights, they change places. Amy Schwartz has a wonderful time with the theme she sets and so do readers of all ages who've considered just such a change. (Bradbury, $10.95, $3.95)
There are strange schools as well as odd characters. In Earthlets, as explained by Professor Xargle , Jeanne Willis and illustrator, Tony Ross show us an alien school. The wise Professor Xargle lectures on the behavior of earthlets--translation: babies. His observances are as full of humor to Earthlings as they are of wisdom to Aliens. Ages 5-8. (Dutton, $12.95)
One of the most exciting school characters is found in one of the most loved non-fiction series for children. Ms. Frizzle is the zany teacher in Joanna Cole and Bruce Degen's The Magic School Bus series. Thus far, Ms. Frizzle and the kids have traveled to the waterworks, under the earth and into the human body. All treks are full of facts, fun and are so readable that they become addictive to people of all ages. (Scholastic, $13.95; Waterworks available at $3.95)
One of the most-loved books for middle grade readers are Louis Sacher's The Side-way Stories of Way-side School. (Scholastic, $3.95) Stories are one to three pages long and reveal wacky and weird tales about the strange people who inhabit a school oh thirty classrooms that were accidentally built on top of each other. Kids who loved the first Sacher will be delighted to find that he has a sequel which is even funnier entitled Wayside School is Falling Down. (Lothrop, $12.95) Ages 8-12.
"How was school today?" you ask, remembering your own fear and excitement of school's start and wondering how your child is faring with the transition from home to school. Many times a book character can help young children voice upsets and joys and give parents a framework for conversations. Here are new titles to ease the concerns of young children and bolster the spirits of their parents.
A mole mother offers an ingenious solution for her struggling son in "Take a Kiss to School" by Angela McAllister (Bloomsbury, $15.95, ages 4-6) Her son, Digby, has a great first day of school, but when she wakes him for Day Two, he comments, "I went there yesterday". Digby's mom comes up with a brilliant strategy for her fearful son. She "cupped her hands, blew a dozen kisses, and slipped them into Digby's pocket." Digby faces a slew of threatening situations and the author helps identify feelings of loneliness, overwhelm, worry and confusion and Digby finds continual comfort in those pocketed kisses. When he sheds his jacket in the hot sun and he retrieves it later, the kisses are missing. Happily he finds comfort in soothing Otterly, an even less secure student. This new friendship helps Digby survive school stresses and know he can go to school kiss-less. Illustrations by Sue Hellard's bright picture increase the book's sunny, warm outlook.
Often children's greatest school fear is finding friendship amid the rejection of peers. Gennifer Choldenko sheds a new light on this typical problem in "Making Friends with a Giant" (Putnam, $16.99, ages 4-6) Jake, the shortest kid in his class, has problems that are dwarfed when Jacomo, a giant, moves in next door and instantly becomes the new victim of cruel classmates. He's teased at the bus stop, doesn't even fit in the bus and earns new taunts when he awkwardly greets his first grade teacher by dangling her in the air. We have to know that Jake has suffered similar abuse for he is a constant friend right from the beginning. He challenges the giant to race the bus to school, asks Jacomo to sit beside him and coaches him on playground soccer. By the day's end they are friends. By book's end a friendless, awkward child will be comforted.
You can find a more realistic treatment of the issue in "The New Girl...and Me" by Jacqui Robbins (Atheneum, $16.95, ages 4-6). Matt Phelan's expressive pictures show the loneliness of Shakeeta, the new girl. When asked by the teacher to tell the class something her name says, she answers instead, "I have an iguana". The teacher asks students to make her feel at home and that's when our viewpoint character, Mia, starts caring. She wonders what Shkeeta would feel like at home with her iguana and what it would be like to show around a girl who threatens she'll punch D.J. in the head when he calls her "Shakeeta Mosquita". We soon come to see Mia's curiosity overcome her timid character. She researches iguanas and finds they look like dinosaurs and her wonder increases. At recess, Mia watches D.J. bully Shakeeta, she's prompted to speak up, nudged by her teacher's words, her wonder about the iguana, and seeing Shakeeta "so sad that she sniffles and wipes her eyes." Mia laughs at Shakeeta's iguana's name, Igabelle, and suddenly a friendship blossoms. The illustrations and the understated narration shows, rather than tells about Mia's shy nature, her own lack of acceptance, and what it takes for her to reach out. Subtleties and pictures leave lots of room for discussion.
Another friendship issue comes in weathering hard times as we see in Margaret Chodos-Irvine's "Best Best Friends" by (Harcourt, $16.00, ages 3-6). This story tells the preschool tale of Clare and Mary, best friends who always want to be together until Mary is the pink birthday princess with a golden crown, the receiver of priviledges and songs...and the nasty jealousy of her friend Clare. We see Clare's sulk then tell her "best friend" that yellow is better than pink. Jealousy mounts and soon there's yelling, cruelty and finally hurt feelings for both parties. The two invoke the classic young friendship threat, "You are not my friend" and play with others until they miss each other so much that they once again become "best best best friends". The simplicity of art and story leave lots of room to discuss the complex feelings of early friendship. Caldecott-winning artist.
Great teachers make for happy school experiences. . Michael Rosen's Totally Wonderful Miss Plumberry (Candlewick, $15.99, ages 4-6) saves Mollly's "totally wonderful day" by knowing just how to encourage peer relationships. Molly's excited about sharing the wonderful crystal from her grandma and her fellow students seem enthused until Russell zooms past with his water-spurting dinosaur shattering Molly's expectations. Not only does Miss Plumberry see Molly's misery, but she models appreciation for both the crystal and sharing.
It's not just students who are nervous at new beginnings as we see in B. G. Hennessy's Mr. Ouchy's First Day (Putnam, $15.99, ages 4-6). The day before school we witness the new teacher nervously anticipating his first day. He shouldn't -he finds comfort with his students, teaches them so that they learn happily and are excited about their year. At day's end we again see the private life of this new and devoted teachers who shares his dreams with his supportive mom and then sets about making all his students' learning dreams come true.
And what about those left behind? Tommy's farm animal friends wonder about his new life in Jessica Harper's "A Place Called Kindergarten" (Putnam, $15.99, ages 4-6). Harper provides an excellent tale for younger siblings who, like Tommy's animals, wonder what the new world is all about. The story is filled with the kind of sound-making young children love --Variations of the refrain "BaabaabaabaaMOOMOOMOOMOOCluckcluckcluckcluckNAYNAYNAYNAY.." thread through the story. And Tommy is a great ambassador for the thrills young learning can bring. He affectionately and enthusiastically shares all he has learned-from alphabet letters to singing. So enthusiastic that the animals can hardly wait for his next day's learning.
Sometimes the best way to lighten transitions with laughter. Recently re-released is the humourous classic -Amy Schwartz's "Bea and Mr. Jones" (Harcourt, $13.95, ages 4-6). Bea is fed up with kindergarten's games and sitting on the rug. Her father hates sitting at a desk and laughing at his boss's jokes. So they switch places and experience the thrill of each other's lives. Mr. Jones quickly becomes teacher's pet and Bea shines at coming up with advertising jingles...each discovers "their proper niche in the world." Illustrations and ideas are absurdly funny and guaranteed to provide a laugh and provoke a conversation!
And there's more help. Starting school is only one of the many transitions children face. Early childhood is fraught with small dramas and traumas, books can help. You sit down with a child dissolved in tears, read a story in which a young hero takes on a problem and by the book's end, the problem has faded or sometimes is even solved. These new titles can help common situations.
Lauren Child, "My Wobbly Tooth Must Not Ever Never Fall Out" (Grosset &Dunlap, $5.99, ages 5-7)
Kate Klise, "Why Do You Cry? Not a Sob Story" (Holt, $16.95, 3-6)
Peter Reynolds, "The Best Kid in the World" (Atheneum, $15.95, ages 3-6)
Mo Willems, Don't Let the Pigeon Stay Up Late! (Hyperion, $12.99, ages 3-6)
Martha Alexander, "I'll Protect You from the Jungle Beasts" (Charlesbridge, $9.95, ages 3-5)
Gill Lobel, "Too Small for Honey Cake" (Harcourt, 16.00, ages 3-6)
Barbara Shook Hazen, "Who is Your Favorite Monster, Mama?" (Hyperion, $15.99, ages 3-6)
Beginning a new column seems especially powerful when it's launched at the same time that every teacher prepares for the start of the school year. Summer's slower pace gives time to reflect on previous classes, to wonder about the learning and children to come, and to imagine how things can be different. For many educators, it's a time for New School Year's Resolutions.
When we talked about finding focus for the column, we looked back over forty-one years combined experience and decided that our goal is to give teachers what they want. So much of a teacher's life is taken up with listening and then working to meet the expectations of parents and administrators, that we'd rather listen to you.
Give us your themes and topics. We will try our best to help you with books and curriculum ideas. We'd love for this to be a column that connects teachers across the country so if you're willing to contribute your ideas, we'll send you an editor's choice book as a thank you.
While we wait for the mail box to fill, we decided to celebrate beginnings with books. Books to comfort and calm those new to school. Titles to give you ideas about different approaches. We wish you all a very happy school start.
Book: Author-illustrator Kevin Henkes gives us a hero who's dealing with the fear of beginning school in Owen (Greenwillow, $14.00; ages 4-6). Mouse-child Owen can't face kindergarten with out his childhood companion, a fuzzy blanket. An intrusive neighbor tries to influence the troubled family, but it's finally Owen's mother that comes up with "an absolutely wonderful, positively perfect, especially terrific idea." Henkes, an author children love, shows once again that he understands children, families, and creative solutions.
Beyond: Consider transforming your early childhood art or housekeeping center into a sewing area where children stitch their own worn-with-love "not so fuzzy" mini-blankets just like Owen's. Then display these squares in combination as a "class quilt" or let them serve as personal security blankets during rest time each day. This sewing project, which requires additional adult supervision, is a great way to involve and educate parents (who may be experiencing separation pangs of their own). A private rereading of Owen by parent or teacher may be just the thing to comfort a child who's having a difficult adjustment.
Book: Juanita Havill is another author who understands the inner lives of young children. She always has a gift for giving voice to children that aren't perfect. Her heroine, Jamaica has pleased listeners in two other stories and now she returns to star in Jamaica and Brianna(Houghton Mifflin, $13.95; ages 6-8). Jamaica's back with her not-so-pretty behavior. When Brianna hurts Jamaica's feelings, Jamaica hurts Brianna's feelings, and both girls suffer with the pain of unresolved conflict.
Beyond: This book provides a wonderful base for a class meeting or discussion about the always-present woes of peer troubles in school. Extend that discussion even further by having children role play situations similar to Jamaica's and Brianna's. If they need prompting help them recount and remember troubles they have experienced. Such simulations are really initial training in conflict resolution and give children opportunity to brainstorm behavioral choices and identify ways to respond to each others' needs. Use Brianna and Jamaica as models and touchstones to help you during those teachable moments that so often seem to arise on the playground. These two characters and the difficulties they overcome are real enough to establish them as members of your class.
Book: Grace, a character who's become loved in classrooms across the country is back in Boundless Grace (Dial, $14.99; ages 7 and up), written and illustrated by Mary Hoffman and Caroline Binch. Grace takes on narrow definitions of family in Boundless Grace. Grace's family "is not right" because she can't find the mother-grandmother household reflected in her books and when her father issues an invitation to visit him and his second family in Gambia, Grace concludes "They make a storybook family without me. I'm one girl too many." By the end of the book, Grace's view of family is new. She decides that her family is fine, it's society and literature that need to reflect her life. It's never too early to begin children thinking about challenging old thought patterns and Grace is the perfect role model to help them! Note that this book may require an older developmental level than the first book for full comprehension and story effect.
Beyond: The curricular extensions for this book seem "boundless" since Grace's experiences with her family almost beg children to reflect on their own. Young readers can explore their personal histories by interviewing parents, aunts, uncles, etc. and then presenting their findings on family trees. Build appreciation of diversity of backgrounds by having students locate their ethnic origins on a world map. Graphing information and results of this research on heritage will help students compare and contrast their "roots" in highly visual ways. Offer students a wide range of choice in art media so that they can portray their different family configurations and express their individuality.
Book: Dorling Kindersley supports learning about beginnings with several books about metamorphoses. The adventure begins with the See How You Grow Series. Fifteen individual titles like Frog, Butterfly, and Chick (Dorling Kindersley, $7.95; ages 3-6) show children the changes of life with few words. Evolution continues in Linda Martin's Watch Them Grow (Dorling Kindersley, $14.95; ages 4-7) which shows life starts of ten different animals. Written and visual information deepens as excellence continues in Egg: A Photographic Story of Hatching (Dorling Kindersley, $13.95; ages 6-10). All books have clarity of language,amazing photographs, and perfectly match the developmental needs of each age group.
Beyond: Appeal to young children's egocentric interests by using these books to study growth and their own beginnings as babies. One of the most creative units I see implemented by K/1 teachers in Durham Public Schools is centered on "Me Babies". At the beginning of the school year, parents and teachers assist in making cloth dolls which resemble each child as a newborn (e.g. material chosen to match skin color is stuffed with birdseed equal to the child's weight at birth). Children refer to baby photos as they draw their faces and glue hair (if any!) on their dolls. Some even dress their dolls in outfits they actually wore as newborns. Cardboard boxes can be painted to serve as bassinets with birth certificates displayed on each for identification (and for promoting the reading of classmates' names, addresses, etc.). Set up a classroom nursery with feeding times, lullabies sung in rockers during those nurturing moments, and be sure to keep a camera handy!
Book: Lee Wardlaw's Seventh Grade Weirdo Scholastic, $13.95; new in paperback, $3.25 Ages 10-13) stars Rob, a kid that just wants to be normal. His family makes this difficult, if not impossible. Rob's mother's a Winnie-the-Pooh freak, his father's an ex- pro surfer, and his small sister's a genius who glides in and out of becoming book characters until she invents a board game that turns her into a millionaire. Add to that a taunting bully named "the Shark" and the normal adjustment to middle school life and you have wild and humorous situations that attract YA readers. Wardlaw is also a master of dialogue--she maintains a perfect balance of funny, fresh, playful and realistic kid-talk while expressing the underpinning psychology--that of coming to an authentic appreciation of self-- through Rob's growth and perceptions.
Beyond: Form cooperative literacy groups to discuss and respond to this book's message about school adjustment and family life. Provide students with group options: relating this story line to their own lives by writing to each other in their journals, comparing Rob's experiences with those of the adolescent protagonist, Arnold, in The Wonder Years on TV. Deepen students' understanding of writing dialogue by working collaboratively in small groups to transform a scene from Seventh Grade Weirdo into a script. Use this as a springboard for students to original dialogues or dramas. Contrast their writings with classic plays such as Cheaper By The Dozen or You Can't Take It With You (in print or video format). Middle schoolers will discover that stories of eccentric families have existed for a long time - they may encounter families even more weird than Rob's or their own!
Alan Ahlberg,Starting School(Viking, $11.95;$4.95;Ages 4-6)
Juli Barbato, From Bed to Bus (Macmillan, $13.95; ages 4-6.)
Jeanne Betancourt, My Name is Brain Brian (Scholastic, $13.95; ages 10 and up)
Elizabeth James and Carol Barkin's How To Be School Smart: Secrets of Successful Schoolwork (Beech Tree, $6.95; ages 9-13)
Louis Sachar, Wayside School Gets a Little Stranger (Morrow, $15.00; ages 8-12)
Amy Schwartz, Annabelle Swift, Kindergartner (Orchard,$14.95; $4.95; ages 4-7)
Amy Schwartz,Bea and Mr. Jones(Bradbury, $12.95, $3.95; ages 5-8)
Ann Schweninger,Off to School!(Puffin, $3.95; Ages 4-6)
Tara McCarthy, Literature-Based Geography Activities: An Integrated Approach. (Scholastic, $12.95).
Kimberly Tolley, The Art and Science Connection (Primary and Intermediate Editions available, Addison Wesley, $24.95 each)
Used Numbers: Real Data in the Classroom, (6 book series, Dale Seymour Publishers, $12.95 each)
Wilson, Malmgren, Ramage, Schulz, An Integrated Approach to Learning (Heinemann, $16.00)