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I KNOW A TEACHER by Naomi Buchheimer

I KNOW A TEACHER

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Pub Date: July 1st, 1967
Publisher: Putnam

The predetermined (series) title has nothing to do with the text--a superficial but recognizable recreation of a little boy's first day in kindergarten, Told by Himself. David speaks right up to the nice (Negro) teacher, too, and shows no regret at mother's departure; in a twinkling he is building blocks with ""two boys I know."" He learns to raise his hand, count, sing ""America,"" and put his sweater away; later the teacher takes the children on a tour of the building (balding principal, be-spectacled librarian, busy cooks, kindly custodian). Altogether a painless, thorough indoctrination, supplemented by dinner table talk about sister Alice's activities in third grade. The rub is that youngsters old enough to read this themselves know it already (and couldn't careless about kindergarten), while parents of preschoolers are likely to feel rather uncomfortable reading aloud ""Today is my first day of school.