With a cadence reminiscent of her Jesse Bear books, Carlstrom introduces Annie Claire and her mother, who engage in a soothing duet as the pup prepares for her first day of school. Annie Claire expresses her anticipatory anxieties one by one—“What if I spill my milk / All over the floor?”—and her mother calmly answers each in turn—“We’ll just clean it up— / It’s happened before.” While the text sometimes falters in its scansion, its patterned structure provides a consistent, solid underpinning to the reassuring message. Moore’s delicate ink-and-watercolor paintings depict a retriever-like Annie Claire engaging in all her imagined gaffes, following up verse by verse with her mother’s rejoinders. It’s very sweet, not very original and certain to find an audience. (Picture book. 3-6)
