MILDRED AND SAM GO TO SCHOOL

Over three short chapters, Mildred and Sam the mice send their brood off to school, on a field trip to the pond and on an imaginary trip to Saturn. Each chapter is punctuated by the little mice’s dreams: a show-and-tell caterpillar who turns into a moth; a tadpole who turns into a frog; the sky kittens who live on Saturn. The gentle tales unfold in developmentally appropriate language, but it’s a pity the theme of metamorphosis developed in the first two chapters doesn’t extend into the third. The bland illustrations are at their best during the dream sequences. (Early reader. 5-8)