Back to School

I Am Too Absolutely Small for School
by Lauren Child


Charlie has a little sister named Lola, and their parents think that Lola is almost (but not quite) big enough for school. Lola is not sure that she agrees with them. Lola does not believe that she is big enough, and she is too busy at home doing other things to be able to go to school. Charlie tells Lola that she will learn all kinds of things at school, such as numbers and how to count to one hundred. Lola tells Charlie that she is happy just being able to count to ten (especially because she never eats more than ten cookies at on time). Charlie also tells Lola that she can learn letters, and that way, she can write on cards to send to people that she likes. Lola tells Charlie that she is happy just talking on the telephone. Charlie reminds Lola that not everyone has a telephone, and letters and cards can reach anybody. Then Lola thinks about things that might come up if she goes to school. She tells Charlie that she will not wear a school uniform. Charlie tells her that their school does not have uniforms. What other worries will Lola have about going to school? Will Charlie be able to make her feel better about them? How will Lola's first day at school go? Will she make any friends?


















Miss Smith's Incredible Storybook
by Michael Garland


Zack is waiting for his new teacher to arrive, and while he is waiting, he thinks that school will probably be really boring this year. Then Miss Smith arrives, and Miss Smith is very different than the other teachers that Zack has seen before. Then Miss Smith announces that it is "story time," and she starts to read from her storybook. As she starts reading, Zack cannot believe his eyes. Miss Smith is reading a pirate story, and suddenly, pirate characters are coming to life and acting out the story. Then suddenly, Zack and the rest of the class find themselves in the middle of the story (on a pirate ship)! After that Zack is excited to go to school and see the next story that Miss Smith will read from her storybook. After Miss Smith finishes each story, the characters and adventure all disappear back into her book. That Friday, Miss Smith gets stuck in traffic, and so Principal Rittenrotten comes to read for her until she can get there. As the principal reads, a princess, dragon, and knight on his horse come out of the book. The principal drops the book and runs away yelling for help. One of the other students, Sue Ann, grabs the book and starts reading another story. Instead of the princess, dragon, and knight going back into the book, suddenly Goldilocks and the three bears climb out. Then another student starts reading a different story from the book, and suddenly, the Mad Hatter, the Cheshire Cat, and Alice climb out of the book, too. The book gets passed from student to student, and everyone keeps reading different stories. As they do this, more and more characters come climbing out of the book. Zack tells them that they need to finish reading each story to have the characters go back, but no one is listening to him. Will the students be able to get all the characters back into the storybook? What will the characters from the stories do? What will Miss Smith do when she gets to class? What will the principal think when he gets back to the classroom?




















The Best Seat in Second Grade
by Katharine Kenah and illustrated by Abby Carter


Sam thinks that he has the best seat in the whole second grade, because he gets to sit next to George Washington (the hamster). Every Monday, Mr. Hopper picks a new Hampster Helper, and that person gets to feed George Washington, make him some toys out of boxes and tubes, and they get to play with George Washington. Sam always wants to be the Hamster Helper, but his name never seem to get drawn out of Mr. Hopper's little bowl. Sam is tired of waiting and thinks that George Washington needs some time out of his cage, and he thinks George Washington needs to see a little bit of the world. The next day the class is going to visit the science museum, and so Sam decides that he will bring George Washington with him. At the museum, Sam keeps George Washington in his coat pocket. The first place they go is into the planetarium. Inside the planetarium, Sam takes George Washington out of his pocket and tells him to make a wish to all the stars. Sam ends up taking George Washington through the wind tunnel, to look at the weird mirrors, through the Giant Seashell, to the Homes of the Future, and even to the Bubbles are a Blast. George Washington watches, listens, and sneezes through it all, and no one else notices that Sam has brought George Washington with him. Sam does not want to each lunch with everyone else, because he is afraid that George Washington will smell the food and jump up, and so Sam wanders off by himself to show George Washington the animal zone. Sam finally stops in front all of the other hamsters, and he notices that all of the other hamsters look just like George Washington. Suddenly, the other children in Sam's group run up to him. They suddenly see that he is holding George Washington. Before the can say anything, though, George Washington jumps out of Sam's hand and into the Hamster Habitat. Will the class be able to figure out which hamster is George Washington? How do you think they can tell which one is him? What is something that George Washington has been doing all day as he traveled with Sam? What will Sam do on Monday when everyone gets back to class?



















A School Like Mine: A Unique Celebration of Schools Around the World
a DK book


This book discusses how children all over the world go to school. The different chapters are broken up into five chapters: The Americas, Africa, Europe, Asia, and Australasia. At the beginnging of the book, you get introuduced to children from all over the world, and you get to see the different ways they dress when they attend school. Each chapter begins with facts about the areas that are covered by that chapter. Then the students introduced at the beginning of the book are discussed with their lives, clothes, languages, education (and things they do at school), and what they get to eat during the school day. You can see how alike and different the education of children all over the world is from your own. What kind of things do you have in common? What kinds of things are different? Is there something that they do in another school around the world that you would like to try?