These engaging picture books touch upon commonplace situations that are often part of the school experience. Whether told with poignant realism or exaggerated humor, the stories exhibit sensitivity to their young protagonists’ perspectives and convey the positive message that challenging circumstances can ultimately result in personal triumphs.
Welcoming New Americans
In I’m New Here (Charlesbridge, 2015; K-Gr 3), Anne Sibley O’Brien relates the experiences of three children who must adjust not only to a new school, but also to a new country, culture, and language. “Back home” in Guatemala, Maria chatted freely with her friends, but now struggles to understand and say words that “feel like rocks” in her mouth; Jin, who often wrote stories in Korea, now looks at the English alphabet and sees only “scribbles and scratches;” Fatimah, always comfortable in her school in Somalia, no longer feels as though she fits in. Poetic text and jewel-toned artwork poignantly convey each child’s viewpoint and feelings of loneliness and alienation.
Perseverance pays off, however, and all three begin to adapt to their unfamiliar world. Maria asks to join a soccer game; Jin shares Korean words with another student; and Fatimah finally participates in a class project, even showing her artwork to an appreciative audience. These “new beginnings” are wholeheartedly supported by classmates, who welcome the newcomers to the school community and benefit from their contributions. This picture book can provide insight to new immigrants, who might find comfort in seeing their experiences reflected on its pages, as well as engender greater empathy and understanding in the youngsters who are meeting New Americans for the first time. An author’s note provides background about why families immigrate, how readers can help, and a link to the “I’m Your Neighbor” (http://www.imyourneighborbooks.org/), a project that promotes children’s literature featuring new arrivals.
Special Days, Caring Classrooms
The class is planning a celebration for Mother’s Day, and it seems like everyone has a mother to invite (Howie even has two) except for Stella, who has two dads. Seeing that she’s worried, the other kids try to help her figure things out. If she has no mother, then who packs her lunch, or reads her bedtime stories, or kisses her when she’s hurt?
Stella’s replies reveal that she has many family members who lovingly care for her—Daddy, Papa, Nonna, Aunt Gloria, and more—and her friend Jonathan suggests, “Why don’t you invite them all?” Despite a few lingering doubts, Stella Brings the Family (Chronicle, 2015; K-Gr 2), and the day is rousing success. Miriam B. Schiffer’s gentle tale is told with both a light touch and an astute eye toward a child’s perspective and heartfelt concerns. Starring a protagonist with unruly red curls and an expressive face, Holly Clifton-Brown’s buoyant illustrations depict a multi-ethnic cast of apple-cheeked characters. In addition to reflecting the diversity of modern-day families, this book also celebrates the acceptance, thoughtful kindness, and support found in a caring classroom.
In My Three Best Friends and Me, Zulay (FSG, 2015; K-Gr 3), the young narrator describes how she and her pals spend a typical school day, playing together or helping each other with their classwork. Though Zulay, who is blind, has mastered many skills, like climbing trees, swimming, and reading with her fingers (classmates get to take turns trying out the Brailler machine she uses during writing), she is reluctant to practice using a folding cane with Ms. Turner, worried that it will make her stand out among her peers.
When their teacher, Ms. Seeger, announces an upcoming Field Day, everyone’s excited. The students must each choose an event, and Maya picks capture the flag, Nancy opts for tug-of-war, and Chyng decides to try walking with an egg on a spoon. Zulay surprises them all by proclaiming that she plans to run the race. Hard work and Ms. Turner’s upbeat assistance allow Zulay to obtain her goal, and three weeks later, “with the wind pushing me and the sun shining me,” she soars across the finish line “like a bird who opens her wings and flies.”
Cari Best’s lyrical text and Vanessa Brantley-Newton’s color-drenched paintings honestly convey Zulay’s challenges, triumphs, and irrepressible personality. Set in a classroom that successfully incorporates diversity and inclusiveness, this tale will inspire youngsters to try new things, persevere despite difficulties, and look to compassionate classmates and school staff for support.
The Truman Elementary Troublemakers certainly live up to their name: Cap’n Catastrophe, a pirate-hat-sporting porcupine; Destructo Dude, a superhero-hooded piglet; and Make-My-Day May, a western-garbed raccoon set a down-right “scowly, growly” example by tormenting classmates and instigating general mayhem. That is until sweet-faced Ginny Louise, a perpetually smiling hedgehog dressed from head to toe in pink, skips into the picture. No matter how hard the bullies try to rain on her parade, she always reacts with undefeatable cheerfulness and a steadfast commitment to believing the absolute best of her counterparts (or at least pretending to). So when Make-My-Day May pokes a finger at Ginny Louise and menacingly mutters her trademark phrase, “Yer gonna pay,” the hedgehog replies with an enthusiastic, “I’d love to play!” and leads her befuddled oppressor on a “whoop[ing] and floopity-floop[ing]” walk around the playground. And so it goes, until the scalawags finally realize that it’s easier—and much more fun—to join Ginny Louise in her merry activities than to beat her. Filled with expressive animal characters and loads of humor, Tammi Sauer and Lynn Munsinger’s Ginny Louise and the School Showdown (Disney, 2015; K-Gr 2) proves that kindness is contagious.
Coloring Outside of the Lines
More adept at doodling and daydreaming than correctly completing math problems on the board, reading aloud clearly, or maintaining a “spick-and-span” desk—all achievements that are lauded in her classroom—Rose has begun to tell herself, I Will Never Get a Star on Mrs. Benson’s Blackboard (Candlewick, 2015; K-Gr 2). And indeed, the teacher does maintain high expectations for her students, though she kindly redirects the young narrator and even cuts her some slack (as in a much-needed desk-inspection reprieve).
When the class is instructed to craft thank-you cards for the painter who visited the day prior, Rose pulls out her art supplies and manages to once again make a mess of her desk (and herself), but also creates a “super-gigantic” masterpiece that catches Mrs. Benson’s eye (“Rose! You are a true artist, just like Mr. Sullivan”). After a bit of clean up, the proud teacher allows Rose to draw her very own star on the board. Jennifer K. Mann’s simple text and effervescent mixed-media illustrations sparkle with keen understanding of a child’s perceptions, tender humor, and an empowering message about individuality.
Matt Davies’s follow up to Ben Rides On (2013) tells another tale about a boy with a mischievous grin, sticking-out ears, and his own way of seeing the world. This time, Ben Draws Trouble (2015; K-Gr 3; both Roaring Brook), doodling throughout the day in order to make math, writing, and other subjects “just a teensy bit more interesting.”
Scribbling everything from motorcycles to monsters, he has a particular talent for portraying people, and his top-secret sketchbook is filled with wry caricatures of schoolmates. One day, during his bike ride home, the book goes missing, and Ben frantically searches everywhere. It reappears the next morning, in the hands of his not-too-pleased-looking classmates, before turning up on their teacher’s desk. However, rather than taking the youngster to the principal’s office, Mr. Upright recognizes Ben’s artistic talent and asks him to help with set design for the school play. On opening night, everyone at Watson Elementary agrees “that Ben’s drawings looked even better…when they were twenty feet tall.” Davies’s frenetic cartoon illustrations, filled with flowing lines, funny details, and visual hijinks, portray charismatic characters as well as astute emotional dynamics. A smile-inducing reminder to be always be proud of one’s talents, and share them in a positive way with others.
A Laugh and a Lesson
Following an embarrassing moment—accidentally calling his teacher “Mommy” when answering a question in front of the entire class—a boy decides to become a First Grade Dropout (Clarion, 2015; K-Gr 2). After all, how could he possibly return to Lakeview Elementary when everyone, even his best friend Tyler, laughed at him (“…and slapped their desks and stomped their feet. And pointed. At me”)?
Audrey Vernick’s humorously exaggerated text and Matthew Cordell’s squiggle-lined cartoon artwork depict the narrator in his wide-eyed, red-cheeked, droopy-shouldered glory, humorously underscoring that bug-in-the-spotlight feeling of total humiliation. When tells Tyler about his dropout plan, Tyler vows to join him, promising, “It’ll be great! We can work on our junk shots.” “Junk shots?” Now it’s time for the narrator to guffaw and Tyler to turn red. Never fear, the story’s upbeat ending proves that both friends have learned how to laugh at themselves. Use this hilarious tale to remind kids that everyone experiences embarrassment at one time or another, discuss strategies for getting past blunders, and to bolster readers’ empathy.
A tall, toothy reptile seems like a great idea for show-and-tell, but the adventures of an irascible young narrator reveal, If You Ever Want to Bring an Alligator to School, Don’t! (Little, Brown, 2015; K-Gr 2). Magnolia learns the hard way, promising her skeptical teacher that the critter “will be quiet and good…and won’t eat anyone.” Of course, the creature disrupts class by drawing droll pictures, folds paper airplanes during art, and leans over an oblivious classmate with jaws looming wide during math (she catches him before he takes a mouthful of anything more than hair).
Poor Magnolia ends up with her name on the board, checked three times and underlined. A bit of redemption comes when the youngster and reptile give a knock-‘em-dead show-and-tell presentation, culminating with the alligator beating a hasty retreat (“they aren’t scared of anything except other alligators…and humans”—such as Magnolia making a scary face). Unfortunately, the day still ends with a trip to the principal’s office.
Elise Parsley’s tall-tale-style text is perfectly paired with zany artwork, and Magnolia’s hyperbolic facial expressions are a hoot. Pluck a few gems of wisdom from this cautionary tale such as the importance of positive classroom behavior, show-and-tell dos and don’ts, and the basic rule that one should never allow a classmate to be swallowed whole.
Cleverly spinning out a pun, Ashlyn Anstee’s lighthearted picture book is useful both as a pre-field trip primer and as a segue into a lesson about wordplay. As a cheerful bunch of multi-racial students and their teacher pile into a school bus, destination unknown, they repeatedly ask, Are We There, Yeti? (S&S, 2015; PreS-Gr 2). The driver, an extra-large white creature with rounded teeth and a winning smile, patiently responds, “Not yet,” while steering through scenery that gradually transforms from autumn-hued to alpine. Finally, they reach their goal, a snow-covered mountaintop that seems empty and isolated…until the students follow mysterious footprints toward a cave from which a crew of yeti youngsters emerges. Before long, members of both species are smiling at one another and playing in the snow. When Yeti says it’s time to go, no one wants to leave, but he promises they will soon return, and it’s back on the bus for the return journey (“Are we home, Yeti?”). Brief dialogue-balloon text and packed-with-personality artwork make for an amusing road trip.
Same School, Fresh View
Though their day-to-day environment may be as familiar as the backs of their hands, Stephen T. Johnson’s Alphabet School (S&S, Sept. 2015; K-Gr 4) will inspire kids to view their surroundings with fresh eyes. In this wordless book, each handsomely composed full-page picture features a school-set image with the shape of a letter cleverly—and artfully—incorporated into the scene.
Consisting of monoprints on paper that have been digitally enhanced, the illustrations mix grainy textures and bold color blends to create a look that is at once realistic and magical. Shadows on the side of a school bus form the letter “B”; a sideways view of the top of a painted hopscotch court reveals a “D”; a flagpole with two flags fluttering in the wind form an “F”; the handle of a wall-mounted pencil sharper becomes an “L”; a bright-orange tube slide on a snow-covered playground makes an “S;” a left-up toilet seat is a readymade “U.” The images challenge readers to flex both visual literacy skills and imaginations, to look more closely at the ordinary and find extraordinary wonders hidden within. Have students go on an alphabet hunt in their own well-trodden terrain and record their discoveries with photographs or sketches, or use Johnson’s spectacular images as prompts for creative writing.