I HATE SCHOOL

Never have the horrors of school been more forcefully, or adroitly, expressed. Why does young Honor Brown hate school? “My teacher is a warty toad! / My classroom is a hole! / The cafeteria ladies feed us worms, / and rabbit poo, and coal!” Is it really that bad? Yes, the teachers “throw us out of windows, / And make us walk on glass. / I’ve heard they cut your head off / If you’re talking during class.” All of this receives explicit expression in Ross’s loosely inked scenes as, clad in tartan skirts and floppy hats, or the equivalent uniforms for boys, Honor and her classmates suffer or inflict each torture with uproarious glee or dismay. Of course, when it’s time to graduate, Honor tearfully declares that she’s really going to miss it all. Willis will have readers or listeners rolling in the aisles—and what a refreshing twist on all of those blandly reassuring “First Day of School” stories. (Picture book. 5-7)