Written by: Jennifer Lloyd
Illustrated by: Qin Leng
Published by: Simply Read Books
Published on: June 10, 2013
Ages: 3+
My kids started back to school for their second semester yesterday, but in Canada I expect most kids are starting today after the Labour Day holiday. I can't wait to see my friends' pictures of rosy cheeked kindergarten students on the morning of their big day!
Kindergarten is a big step. Although in Japan it is a generally 3-year school independent of elementary schools, in Canada kindergarten is the first step in the public school journey. I can't imagine how big kids in Grade 6 look to the littles starting kindergarten!
I'm sure there are some kindy kids who are apprehensive about their new journey, and for them I would recommend this book about the joys of kindergarten.
Lloyd introduces a caring and talented teacher in Ms. Appleby (actually it's Mrs. in the book, the only detractor for me- it should not matter to 5 year olds whether or not their teacher is in a legal state of matrimony or not). She takes her students through the last day of kindergarten, asking them to reflect on their favourite memories. It's Ms. Appleby's favourite thing that makes the book though.
Qin Leng (The Stone Hatchling) is always great at bringing movement into a 2D book, and this suits the chaotic environment of a kindergarten class to a t!
It might seem odd to recommend a book about finishing kindergarten to kids who are just starting- but all kids of this age can identify with the excitement of the classroom and the love of a good teacher.
Sounds interesting! Most books about starting kindergarten seem to be about homesickness, making friends, adjusting on the first day, etc.--I very much like this idea of writing about the end of the year!
ReplyDeleteI will have to find this book and show it to Griffin: one of the things that most annoyed me about his reaction to preschool was that he always told us he didn't remember what he did at school that day. Maybe reading about students sharing their happy memories will have a positive influence on him!
(He started kindergarten last week....sniff!)
This is the perfect blog for anyone who wants to know about this topic. You know so much its almost hard to argue with you (not that I really would want…HaHa). You definitely put a new spin on a subject thats been written about for years. Great stuff, just great!
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