WELCOME TO OUR CLASSROOM!

The collaborators behind the bestselling All Are Welcome (2018) and its follow-ups return with a picture book from an educator’s perspective.

The child with the yellow shirt and blue yarmulke, the kid with the orange braids who uses a wheelchair—the students in this classroom will be familiar to fans of Penfold and Kaufman’s earlier works. This time around, the omniscient narrator has been replaced by a brown-skinned, dark-haired teacher who spends the book telling the kids (including an uncertain-looking new student) what to expect from the school year. There will be joys as well as challenges: “We will try new things / that we’ve never done before. / You might feel a bit nervous / or a little unsure.” The book’s rhymes are more pedestrian than the ones that elevated All Are Welcome, but the text delivers on the series’ hallmark and is likely to engender a feeling of calm, belonging, and reassurance (“You can do anything! / How do I know? / I’m your teacher. // I’ll watch you grow!”). The same holds true for the digital paint, ink, crayon, and collage art, which sets the racially and culturally diverse students against flat white backgrounds—the better for foregrounding each kid’s unique look and personality.

A mighty message certain to bolster students readying themselves for the first day of school—and all year round.