LAST DAY, HOORAY!

It’s the last day of school and Ms. Bell’s students have a surprise for her. Cartoon-style illustrations follow the students as they prepare for the last-day party, bringing cake and paper chains to school and passing around a shared card to sign. Ms. Bell takes down the year’s art from the walls, handing each child his or her self-portrait done in racially appropriate crayon colors. As the children clean the schoolroom, the staff and students daydream of their summer plans: playing in sprinklers, breakfast in bed, gardening, and baseball games. The too-empty schoolroom is wonderfully festive when festooned with paper chains to surprise Ms. Bell, and everyone’s happy, “everyone’s smarter.” The cartoonish figures are nicely accented by the childlike crayon drawings on the one hand, and the caricatured daydream images on the other. (Picture book. 5-8)