PEACE WEEK IN MISS FOX’S CLASS

Fed up with squabbling, Miss Fox declares a Peace Week. All week long, her students find themselves challenged by less-than-peaceful situations and succeed in turning the other cheek to every one, from bossy big sisters and bratty little kids to grumpy neighbors and obstreperous soccer fans. Each instance of peaceful behavior leads, miraculously, to a return in kind until they decide to “make every week Peace Week!” While there’s no question that modeling peace-making is important, Miss Fox’s students’ experience is almost insultingly simplistic. Kids, even ones as young as the target audience, deserve a nuanced acknowledgment that peace-making can take time and can be complicated, hard work. Kennedy’s bright line-and-color illustrations depict a multi-species classroom of endearingly childlike animals. (Picture book. 4-8)