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This picture book about the first day of school, featuring a frog, a duck, a mouse, and a snail, combines a story in rhyme with colorful graphic rebuses, making it a fun book for parent and child to share in the reading. Children about to enter kindergarten or first grade who long to be able to read will get a sense of accomplishment by "reading" the little rebus pictures in the story. Judy Sierra, author of Wild About Books, uses bouncy rhyme and rhythm as cues for the child to name the pictogram rebuses. Preschoolers will enjoy following the animals and their teacher, Tom Burkey (who is a turkey), through a happy first day of school.
"This is a simple but thoroughly charming little gem of a book. While the story line covers no new ground–four animals enjoy typical school activities–the presentation raises it to the next level. For one thing, Sierra has told the tale in effortless rhyme. For another, the rebus format makes it a perfect lap-sit choice with a parent or caregiver reading the words and a child “reading” the easily decipherable pictures. The illustrations . . . are bright and cheerful and should have considerable appeal for the new-to-school set."
- School Library Journal
"Just right for new kindergartners and preschoolers who cannot yet read words, this is one school story that they will be able to help in reading. The draw of Sierra’s latest is the rhyming verse that is interspersed with rebus pictures, allowing children to chime in and participate in the telling . . . Davick’s brightly colored digital illustrations show all the quintessential elements of school—from the playground and bus outside to the decorations and supplies inside. Throughout, kindness, sharing and being helpful are modeled by the anthropomorphized cartoon animals in both the artwork and the nursery-rhyme cadences. A comforting and empowering build-up to the big day—kindergarten (or preschool), here we come!
- Kirkus Reviews
JUDY SIERRA loved reading with rebuses as a very young child. Her acclaimed stories in rhyme include Wild About Books, an E. B. White Read Aloud Award winner; Born to Read; and The Sleepy Little Alphabet. Some of her other books that have tickled the funny bones of children are Mind Your Manners, B. B.Wolf and Tell the Truth, B. B.Wolf.
LINDA DAVICK is a graphic Web site designer and innovative children's book illustrator. Her vibrant computer art has illustrated three popular early learning picture books, 10 Trick-or-Treaters, 10 Trim-the-Tree'ers, and 10 Easter Egg Hunters, all by Janet Schulman.
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