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THIS IS THE CREW THAT BUILDS OUR SCHOOL

Name: THIS IS THE CREW THAT BUILDS OUR SCHOOL
Author: Sherry Fellores
ISBN: 9781534113190

by Sherry Fellores ; illustrated by Sam Caldwell ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 15, 2025

This winner will build a crew of readers and listeners—and singers—who’ll want to revisit again and again.

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Kids know all about the teachers who make learning possible—but what about those responsible for constructing the school building itself?

Set to the familiar, bouncy tune of “Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush,” this perky tale of an energetic, all-animal crew who erect a school from the ground up can be sung by or to an appreciative group of youngsters. Children will be captivated by the sights and sounds of the skilled team carrying out their specialized tasks. They’ll practically hear the heavy clangs of the machinery and equipment; truck mavens will have a field day watching the crew’s vehicles digging and hauling dirt. Most readers may not know exactly what their own school’s construction entailed: laying the foundation and roof, painting the walls, placing power lines and pipes, and even landscaping the playground and garden spaces. They certainly will after poring over this spirited book that captures the essence of teamwork at its finest. Fellores describes the many specific steps with strong, active, rhyming verbs typeset in large capitals: “DIG and SCRAPE, / EXCAVATE!” “CLING and CLANG / THWACK and BANG!” Finally, the grateful students offer the builders a well-deserved thanks for their terrific efforts. Caldwell’s wonderful, dynamic illustrations burst with energy and color.

This winner will build a crew of readers and listeners—and singers—who’ll want to revisit again and again. (author’s note) (Picture book. 4-7)

Pub Date: March 15, 2025

ISBN: 9781534113190

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Sleeping Bear Press

Review Posted Online: Dec. 28, 2024

Kirkus Reviews Issue: yesterday

Categories:

CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

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ON THE FIRST DAY OF KINDERGARTEN

by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Laura Hughes ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 21, 2016

While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of...

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Rabe follows a young girl through her first 12 days of kindergarten in this book based on the familiar Christmas carol.

The typical firsts of school are here: riding the bus, making friends, sliding on the playground slide, counting, sorting shapes, laughing at lunch, painting, singing, reading, running, jumping rope, and going on a field trip. While the days are given ordinal numbers, the song skips the cardinal numbers in the verses, and the rhythm is sometimes off: “On the second day of kindergarten / I thought it was so cool / making lots of friends / and riding the bus to my school!” The narrator is a white brunette who wears either a tunic or a dress each day, making her pretty easy to differentiate from her classmates, a nice mix in terms of race; two students even sport glasses. The children in the ink, paint, and collage digital spreads show a variety of emotions, but most are happy to be at school, and the surroundings will be familiar to those who have made an orientation visit to their own schools.

While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of Kindergarten (2003), it basically gets the job done. (Picture book. 4-7)

Pub Date: June 21, 2016

ISBN: 978-0-06-234834-0

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins

Review Posted Online: May 3, 2016

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2016

Categories:

CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

- BOOK REVIEW
ON THE FIRST DAY OF FIRST GRADE
by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Sarah Jennings

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FIVE LITTLE BUNNIES
by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Dan Yaccarino

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TINY T. REX AND THE IMPOSSIBLE HUG

by Jonathan Stutzman ; illustrated by Jay Fleck ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 5, 2019

Wins for compassion and for the refusal to let physical limitations hold one back.

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With such short arms, how can Tiny T. Rex give a sad friend a hug?

Fleck goes for cute in the simple, minimally detailed illustrations, drawing the diminutive theropod with a chubby turquoise body and little nubs for limbs under a massive, squared-off head. Impelled by the sight of stegosaurian buddy Pointy looking glum, little Tiny sets out to attempt the seemingly impossible, a comforting hug. Having made the rounds seeking advice—the dino’s pea-green dad recommends math; purple, New Age aunt offers cucumber juice (“That is disgusting”); red mom tells him that it’s OK not to be able to hug (“You are tiny, but your heart is big!”), and blue and yellow older sibs suggest practice—Tiny takes up the last as the most immediately useful notion. Unfortunately, the “tree” the little reptile tries to hug turns out to be a pterodactyl’s leg. “Now I am falling,” Tiny notes in the consistently self-referential narrative. “I should not have let go.” Fortunately, Tiny lands on Pointy’s head, and the proclamation that though Rexes’ hugs may be tiny, “I will do my very best because you are my very best friend” proves just the mood-lightening ticket. “Thank you, Tiny. That was the biggest hug ever.” Young audiences always find the “clueless grown-ups” trope a knee-slapper, the overall tone never turns preachy, and Tiny’s instinctive kindness definitely puts him at (gentle) odds with the dinky dino star of Bob Shea’s Dinosaur Vs. series.

Wins for compassion and for the refusal to let physical limitations hold one back. (Picture book. 5-7)