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SOUNDS LIKE SCHOOL SPIRIT

Name: SOUNDS LIKE SCHOOL SPIRIT
Author: Meg Fleming
ISBN: 978-0-593-10832-1

by Meg Fleming ; illustrated by Lucy Ruth Cummins ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 6, 2021

This celebration of school spirit is sure to get the energy flowing.

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This raucous read-along brings school spirit to every moment of the school day.

A diverse group of young students enter the school building, some looking excited, some worried or sad. The book’s text starts up a chant: “We say BOOK, you say BAG… / Book! Bag! Book! Bag!” The narrative continues with chants about familiar school sights, from nametags to the lunch line, “Alpha! Bet!” to class pet. These call-and-response chants alternate with rhyming couplets about school behavior: “Taking turns and standing tall. / That’s the spirit. Let’s PLAY BALL.” Students find seats, have circle time, play, share, learn together, and create a sense of school spirit as they go through their day from drop-off to pickup. The irresistible rhythm of this chant will have a participatory storytime up and running quickly. The type highlights the words to be chanted, so young readers can see the participatory lines as they arise. The illustrations use bright streaks of color and generous white space to match the energy of the text, and the depiction of diverse humans is refreshing in this season’s animal-heavy list of school stories. Character details offer opportunities for children to notice and guess what some of the children may be feeling. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

This celebration of school spirit is sure to get the energy flowing. (Picture book. 3-8)

Pub Date: July 6, 2021

ISBN: 978-0-593-10832-1

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Dial Books

Review Posted Online: May 18, 2021

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2021

Categories:

CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

- BOOK REVIEW
PRETTY CLOSE, BUT NOT THE SAME
by Meg Fleming ; illustrated by Steph Stilwell

- BOOK REVIEW
THE EVERYTHING TRAIL
by Meg Fleming ; illustrated by Chuck Groenink

- BOOK REVIEW
I LIVE IN A TREE TRUNK
by Meg Fleming ; illustrated by Brandon James Scott

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ON THE FIRST DAY OF KINDERGARTEN

by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Laura Hughes ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 21, 2016

While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of...

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Rabe follows a young girl through her first 12 days of kindergarten in this book based on the familiar Christmas carol.

The typical firsts of school are here: riding the bus, making friends, sliding on the playground slide, counting, sorting shapes, laughing at lunch, painting, singing, reading, running, jumping rope, and going on a field trip. While the days are given ordinal numbers, the song skips the cardinal numbers in the verses, and the rhythm is sometimes off: “On the second day of kindergarten / I thought it was so cool / making lots of friends / and riding the bus to my school!” The narrator is a white brunette who wears either a tunic or a dress each day, making her pretty easy to differentiate from her classmates, a nice mix in terms of race; two students even sport glasses. The children in the ink, paint, and collage digital spreads show a variety of emotions, but most are happy to be at school, and the surroundings will be familiar to those who have made an orientation visit to their own schools.

While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of Kindergarten (2003), it basically gets the job done. (Picture book. 4-7)

Pub Date: June 21, 2016

ISBN: 978-0-06-234834-0

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins

Review Posted Online: May 3, 2016

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2016

Categories:

CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

- BOOK REVIEW
A PERFECT PLACE TO PLAY
by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Jim Valeri

- BOOK REVIEW
ON THE FIRST DAY OF FIRST GRADE
by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Sarah Jennings

- BOOK REVIEW
FIVE LITTLE BUNNIES
by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Dan Yaccarino

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IT'S NOT EASY BEING A GHOST

From the It's Not Easy Being series

by Marilyn Sadler ; illustrated by Stephanie Laberis ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 13, 2024

Too cute to be spooky indeed but most certainly sweet.

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A ghost longs to be scary, but none of the creepy personas she tries on fit.

Misty, a feline ghost with big green eyes and long whiskers, wants to be the frightening presence that her haunted house calls for, but sadly, she’s “too cute to be spooky.” She dons toilet paper to resemble a mummy, attempts to fly on a broom like a witch, and howls at the moon like a werewolf. Nothing works. She heads to a Halloween party dressed reluctantly as herself. When she arrives, her friends’ joyful screams reassure her that she’s great just as she is. Sadler’s message, though a familiar one, is delivered effectively in a charming, ghostly package. Misty truly is too precious to be frightening. Laberis depicts an endearingly spooky, all-animal cast—a frog witch, for instance, and a crocodilian mummy. Misty’s sidekick, a cheery little bat who lends support throughout, might be even more adorable than she is. Though Misty’s haunted house is filled with cobwebs and surrounded by jagged, leafless trees, the charming characters keep things from ever getting too frightening. The images will encourage lingering looks. Clearly, there’s plenty that makes Misty special just as she is—a takeaway that adults sharing the book with their little ones should be sure to drive home.

Too cute to be spooky indeed but most certainly sweet. (Picture book. 4-6)