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YELLOWBELLY AND PLUM GO TO SCHOOL by Nathan Hale

YELLOWBELLY AND PLUM GO TO SCHOOL

by Nathan Hale & illustrated by Nathan Hale

Pub Date: July 1st, 2007
ISBN: 978-0-399-24624-1
Publisher: Putnam

Hale makes a common premise uncommonly appealing with illustrations that feature a gloriously multi-species cast. Yellowbelly wouldn’t think of going off to school without his stuffed purple bear Plum, and so it’s time for panic when Plum goes missing on the playground. That playground, and the classroom seen earlier, is stocked with an array of young “folk” that includes dinosaurs, aliens, animals of various sorts, robots, movie monsters and ambulatory cacti, along with the occasional human child—all about the same size, all in school clothes (except for the tutu-clad shark) and all plainly having a great time. Readers will too, as the plot’s crisis is quickly resolved by a happy reunion that leads to games of basketball and “orthodontist” with a set of new friends, and the pictures are filled with tongue-in-cheek details to pick out. It’s the best take on the “misplaced buddy” theme since Jules Feiffer’s considerably more neurotic I Lost My Bear! (1998). (Picture book. 6-8)