When is a old Gothic mansion not spooky?
Evie senses that immediately when her soldier father enrolls her in the prestigious, expensive, eerie Wyldcliff School for Young Ladies as he reports overseas. With her mother dead and her grandmother elderly and ill, this is his only option to care for his daughter. So Evie begins school after the school year has begun, and enters as a scholarship student, aka, a student needing financial help: two-fisted ostracizing. On her way to the school, which the taxi driver insists in evil and will not drive her all the way, she trudges into a Gothic-ly handsome, black-haired young man who is instantly smitten by her. She knows the women teachers are up to something at the school. The young man insists on nighttime meetings and he wanes from healthy to puny. The other scholarship students seems crazy. Evie discovers startling facts in old portraits and books and diaries. Danger creeps closer and closer as she uncovers powerful secrets. The book is hard to put down, and though British, American readers will relish it.
A sequel is coming in which Evie has to make a life or death choice.
ENDERS' Rating: ***
Gillian Shields' Info on HC Website
Nikki and Deja: The Newsy News Newsletter
by Karen English. Illustrated by Laura Freeman. Clarion Books, an imprint of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing. January 2010. Reviewed from ARC.
The Plot: Nikki and Deja decide to start a neighborhood newsletter. Problem is, what types of things can two third graders report on? Especially when they may not know the whole story?
The Good: Nikki, Deja, and their classmates are typical kids, in dialogue, characterization, classroom antics, and as portrayed in the realistic illustrations throughout the book.
Children will readily identify with the school dynamics and recognize themselves and their classmates in the too zealous lunchroom monitor, the teasing notes despite the teacher's instructions to treat one another with respect, the gray line between not having permission but not being told not to do something.
While Nikki and Deja do learn a lesson about their newsletter (not to jump to conclusions and to really investigate something), everything is not tidely resolved.
A great fit for children who are beginning to read chapter books: illustrations, short chapters, realistic stories, familiar friends and surroundings.
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© Elizabeth Burns of A Chair, A Fireplace & A Tea Cozy
This book, like Beautiful Americans, Sophomore Switch, and Vidalia in Paris presents a view of what a change in venue does for a teenager. Most involve summer school experiences.
Emily, a talented artist and member of the “in” (and boring) crowd at a typical suburban high school, is given an opportunity to attend an artist summer school in Philadelphia. I must admit that Philly is now a travel destination for me, as Vivian drew an attractive picture of the city. Emily is hesitant about going, doubting her artistic abilities, but realizes that her best friend is increasingly absorbed by a new romance. So she joins bizarre Fiona and other art types and traipses through the city’s art scene. And what about that student assistant???
ENDERS Rating: a good read
Siobhan Vivian's Website
What would you do if you woke up and discovered that you had lost the last four years? Naomi lost a bet with best bud, Will, and had to run back to the yearbook room for the camera, and her plunge off the stairs climaxed with amnesia. Her hunky tennis beau, Ace, is frustrated that his sexy girlfriend doesn't even remember him. Will acts mysteriously. Her mom and dad are divorced? Mom has a new family? What happened the last four years? You can find out along with Naomi.
ENDERS Rating: Deserves to win the 2010 Evergreen Award!
Gabrielle Zevin's Website
John Burningham is one of those authors that I did not discover until I was an adult. Had I grown up in his native England, it would have been a completely different story. But here in the States he's just another respected import. His classic, Mr. Gumpy's Outing, is listed by Anita Silvey (talk about gurus!) as one of the 100 best books for children, but other than that his droll little windows into a child's psyche seem to come and go. A quick search on Amazon.com shows that of three pages of titles, only half a dozen or so are still in print. Again, it's a different story in the UK, but American fans need to catch his books in the initial print run.
John Patrick Norman McHennessy-the boy who was always late (we'll call it JPNM for short) is a frequent bedtime favorite at our house. It's the simple story of a boy making his way "along the road to learn." Each day he meets seemingly insurmountable hurdles (a crocodile leaping out of a drain, a lion sneaking out of the bushes, a tidal wave washing over a bridge) yet he vanquishes them all, only to come up against a higher hurdle--his teacher's disbelief. The teacher is straight out of the Oxford Don book of fashion, with a log black coat, four-point cap, and a total lack of imagination. Various punishments are meted out to JPNM--standing in the corner, writing out "I must not tell lies" 500 times, solitary confinement, and even the threat of a good thrashing. The teacher not only discredits JPNM's stories, but he gets unreasonably irate about the loss of a glove, torn trousers, and the fact that the boy arrives sopping wet (which is to be expected when you've nearly been washed away by an unexpected tidal wave!) But revenge is sweet, and by the end of the story we see that JPNM has not been traveling along the road to learn for nothing.
I find that children have an amazing capacity for magic while understanding the world in completely literal terms. If JPNM said a lion sprang out of the bushes, well of course it did, even if that's not supposed to happen. John Burningham's books wonderfully capture this dichotomy, and it makes them great fun for the adult reader.
Baby Duck isn’t excited at all about going to school. She’s got first day jitters. She tries to put off the inevitable. At home, it takes a long time for her to button her sweater and to buckle her shoes. She walks behind her parents on the way to school. Her feet feel too heavy for her to hop. She can’t skip because her school bag keeps bumping against her. Her shoe buckle pops open.
Grampa just happens to be sitting on a bench in front of the schoolhouse. He asks Baby Duck questions. He understands that she is worried. He tells her it might help to sing a song. So baby Duck sings:
Please don’t make me go to school.
My teacher will be mean.
I won’t have any fun or friends.
And who will buckle my new shoe?
Grampa buckles Baby Duck’s shoe. Then Baby Duck shows him all the special things in her school bag, including the pencil she got from her younger sibling Hot Stuff. Grampa reminds baby that she draws nice pictures—so she draws a picture. Grampa praises her creation. Then, with Baby Duck at his side, he talks to Miss Posy, the teacher, about the kinds of things she likes…and the kinds of things that the children will do in school. Baby Duck listens. We see her smiling in the illustration. Evidently, she’s changed her feelings about going to school.
Baby Duck’s parents kiss her good-by and promise to be there when school is dismissed. Then Baby Duck hops and skips into the schoolhouse with her new friend Davy singing a happy song.
FRANCINE’S DAY
Written & illustrated by Anna Alter
Greenwillow/HarperCollins, 2003
Francine is having a contrary day. She doesn’t want to do anything that she is expected to do. She doesn’t want to get out of bed…or take off her pajamas. She does not want to go to school…or find her desk in school…or sing the morning song…or recite a poem in front of her classmates…or sit at the snack table…or sit at the art table…or go out to the school playground at the end of the day. No, she’d prefer to have a picnic at home with her mother—and to sit on her porch and draw pictures all afternoon.
Francine’s Day has a very spare text. Much of the story is told through Anna Alter’s pen-and-ink and watercolor illustrations. For example, the text tells us that Francine doesn’t want to recite a poem—but it doesn’t tell us that she does. She is, however, shown in a two-page spread standing at the front of the classroom. It’s easy to infer that Francine DOES recite a poem.
Francine may not WANT to do the things she is expected to do—but she does them anyway. She sits at the snack table when Mr. Wendell, her teacher, sets her a place…and she sits at the art table when he pours out bright, colored paints and hands her a brush…and she goes out to the playground when he tells her that it won’t be long before her mother meets her at the bus stop.
That night, Francine recites a poem and sings a song to her stuffed animals—just as she was asked to do in class. It appears that Francine is enjoying herself playing school. In fact, she does not want to climb into bed.
But Mother pulled back
the covers, kissed her
good night, and turned off
the lights in her bedroom.
“It is time to close your
eyes and go to sleep,”
said Mother.
And she did.
There is nothing in Alter’s text that tells us that this is Francine’s first day of school. Still, Francine experiences the reticence that many young children do before they set off for school for the very first time.
Alter’s uncluttered illustrations focus on Francine…lying in bed, looking at her fall clothes folded on the rocking chair, sitting eating breakfast, walking down the front walk to the school bus, entering her classroom, sitting at her desk and at the snack table and at the art table, holding her teacher’s hand, hugging her mother upon her return home, playing with her stuffed animals, and being tucked into bed at night by her mother. Alter’s palette of soft pastel colors and her use of pale yellow in many of the backgrounds lend warmth and coziness to this story.
Francine’s Day is a good book to read to a young child who may be worried about beginning school.
For more school stories, check out my earlier post Book Bunch: School Stories.
Here are titles of some school stories I recommend:
GETTING THE JITTERS
Off to School, Baby Duck!
Written by Amy Hest
Illustrated by Jill Barton
Candlewick Press, 1999
Baby Duck is nervous about going to school. It’s a good thing Grampa is on hand to help allay Baby’s fears and send her into class singing a happy song.
Wemberly Worried
Written & illustrated by Kevin Henkes
Greenwillow/HaperCollins, 2000
FUN AT SCHOOL
Someone Says
Written by Carole Lexa Schaefer
Illustrated by Pierr Morgan
Viking, 2003
For children in nursery school through grade one. This book celebrates childhood creativity. The spare text and art work together perfectly in this joyful picture book about imaginative play.
A BAD DAY AT SCHOOL
Lilly’s Purple Plastic Purse
Written & illustrated by Kevin Henkes
Greenwillow/HaperCollins, 1996
Today Was a Terrible Day
Written by Patricia Reilly Giff
Illustrated by Susanna Natti
Viking, 1982
Ronald Morgan gets discouraged at school one day when he does everything wrong—including making mistakes when reading aloud in class. Then, on the way home, he reads the note his teacher has given him without any help. The day’s troubles dissipate in the excitement of knowing that he can actually read. (Pair this book with Alexander and the Terrible Horrible No Good Very Bad Day and have children discuss their “terrible” days.)
SCHOOL STORIES TO TICKLE YOUR FUNNY BONE
David Goes to School
Written & Illustrated by David Shannon
Blue Sky Press, 1999
Morris the Moose Goes to School
Written & illustrated by B. Wiseman
Harper & Row, 1970
Morris can’t read or count. He goes to school to learn how. Young children will enjoy all the funny situations and experiences Morris has during his first day in an elementary classroom.
Math Curse
Written by Jon Scieszka
Illustrated by lane Smith
Viking, 1995
Captain Abdul’s Pirate School
Written & illustrated by Colin McNaughton
Candlewick Press, 1996
This is a hilarious tale told via the diary of a young girl whose father has sent her off to pirate school to toughen her up. Children will laugh at some of the pirates’ names—Poop Deck Percy Ploppe, Walker the Plank, Yardarm Pitts—and will enjoy the ending in which the children attending the school outwit the pirates, take over the ship, become pirates themselves and decide not to return home. Ooh-arrgh!
A Fine, Fine School
Written by Sharon Creech
Illustrated by Harry Bliss
Scholastic, 2001
No matter how fine a school may be—too much of a good thing can prove to be a bad idea. Principal Keene learns about some of the other important things in children’s lives from a young girl who has the courage to speak up to an adult.
SCHOOL STORIES ABOUT TEASING AND BULLYING
Chrysanthemum
Written & illustrated by Kevin Henkes
Greenwillow, 1991
Hooway for Wodney Wat
Written by Helen Lester
Illustrated by Lyn Munsinger
Houghton Mifflin, 1999
Poor Wodney Wat (Rodney Rat) can’t pronounce his r’s. His classmates constantly tease him. When Camilla Capybara, a new student who is a big bully, enters the classroom, Wodney fears his days at school will only get worse. Fortunately for Wodney, he is a hero by story’s end because he gets rid of Camilla….forever.
Stand Tall, Molly Lou Mellon
Written by Patty Lovell
Illustrated by David Catrow
Penguin, 2001
Molly Lou is the shortest girl in first grade. She’s got buck teeth, has a terrible singing voice, and is quite clumsy. Her grandma gives her the courage to take pride in herself. Then Molly Lou moves to a new town away from her grandma and old friends. A bully picks on her and teases her—but Molly takes it all in stride and wins over her classmates…including her harasser.
Thank You, Mr. Falker
Written & illustrated by Patricia Polacco
Philomel, 1998
Autobiographical story about young Polacco who was teased by classmates and called a “dummy” because she couldn’t read. In fifth grade, a teacher who is both understanding and wise takes the time to tutor the young artist every day after school and opens the world of words to her.
GOING TO SCHOOL AT SEA
Sailing Home: A Story of a Childhood at Sea
Written by Gloria Rand
Illustrated by Ted Rand
NorthSouth, 2001
This story is based on the experiences of the children of Captain and Mrs. Mads Albert Madsen aboard the four-masted sailing bark named the
John Ena, a ship that carried cargo all over the world during the late 1800s and early 1900s. The children learn school lessons from their mother and governess. Their father teaches them about the planets, stars, celestial navigation, and how to send signals with flags at sea. The back matter of the book includes an afterward and Madsen family photographs.
Kali and the Rat Snake by Zai Whitaker; illustrated by Srividya Natarajan. Copy donated by publisher, Kane / Miller. Originally published in India.
The Plot: Kali is reluctant to go to school; he had been happy at the thought, but once the other children learned that his father was a snake catcher and he was an Irula, they stayed away. Things only got worse when the other kids saw that Kali's favorite snack is fried termites. All that changes when something happens at school and only Kali can save the day.
The Good: I don't know much discrimination within Irula; however, it's obvious from this book that Kali's tribe, the Irulas, is one that is looked down on, just as his father's occupation and his favorite food is scorned. I liked how Whitaker was able to convey it without ever flat out saying it.
Kids who don't know anything about the Irulas will still understand that Kali is being made fun of and bullied for reasons that aren't fair. What Kalie faces in the classroom, while set in India and is about snake catchers and fried termites, is universal; kids understand that. They may not know anyone who eats fried termites, but they know kids who are excluded for similar reasons.
Of course, Kali saves the day by using the skills taught to him by his father to catch the snake. So Whitaker shows not only that differences should be respected; but also that those things we look down on may be valuable. Shame on us for mocking instead. And it's a nice twist, with Kali being not only proud of who he is and where he comes from, but also having the whole school celebrate it.
Cheetah, my niece, liked this because it was about snakes. And didn't like it when the bullies were mean.
The illustrations are beautiful; I particularly liked the ones set in the forest. The colors are vibrant, and as you look closely at the trees and bushes you see birds, small animals -- hey is that a snake?
Links:
Jen Robinson's Book Page review.
Reviews gathered at Tulika Press (the original, Indian publisher)
Saffron Tree review.
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What an amazing resource list you have put together. Can't thank you enough. :)