ON MY WAY TO SCHOOL

Livi, that master of imagination who finds ingenious ways to make transition times fun, must tackle getting ready for school in the morning.

As in other books about Livi’s dawdling (On My Way to Bed, 2013, etc.), her mother’s voice is a speech bubble originating off the page, this time prompting her step by step to get ready for school. Livi is a slow snail oozing out of bed. She is a pirate digging for pirate booty (or just something to cover her own booty). She is a chef at breakfast, an elephant warning her sister away from the watering hole where she brushes her teeth, a Sherpa climbing Everest with a gigantic backpack, a kangaroo playing hopscotch. When the bus arrives, it’s a covered wagon, until the page turn, when it’s back to a bus, and Livi is back to Livi…until she sees her best friend, and her imagination once again takes flight. Livi does finally make it to school, where, while she continues to fantasize, she is a proper pupil. Paraskevas’ digital artwork truly captures an inventive young girl whose spirit cannot be contained or squashed, and Livi’s tongue-in-cheek comments are sure to provoke a chuckle or two from parents and children alike.

Would that every kid had an imagination like Livi’s so that getting ready for school was always this much fun.