Off to Kindergarten - Tony Johnston
Playful rhyming story for jittery new students.
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Book details
- Author:Tony Johnston
- # of pages: 32
- Publisher:Cartwheel Books
- Original Publication Date: 07/01/2007
- Genre: Fiction - School
- Hardcover: $7.99
- Publisher's Recommended Reading Level: 4-8
- Read Aloud: 4+
- Read Alone: 6+
Parents need to know
Parents need to know that most kids will enjoy this light and silly little book, especially if they are headed off to kindergarten.
Families can talk about how it feels to go to school for the first time, either before their child starts off or even after they have adjusted. Together they can see the silliness of all the things the boy thinks he will need for the first day. Why did the boy want to take all those things with him? What do you think he should take? Why did he change his mind? What do you like to take with you when you are going someplace new?
Families can talk about how it feels to go to school for the first time, either before their child starts off or even after they have adjusted. Together they can see the silliness of all the things the boy thinks he will need for the first day. Why did the boy want to take all those things with him? What do you think he should take? Why did he change his mind? What do you like to take with you when you are going someplace new?
Message
Social Behavior:
Young boy conquers his nerves about going to kindergarten.
Consumerism:
Drugs/Alcohol/Tobacco:
Violence
Sex
Language
Common Sense says
What's the story?
Reviewed by Patricia Tauzer
From his teddy bear to his sand box, Bill gathers almost everything he owns as he gets ready for his first day in kindergarten. He thinks he needs to take it all with him until his mother convinces him otherwise.
Is it any good?
Primary colors, flat-faced cartoons, and playful rhymes create a book that kids will enjoy, especially if they are in the early school years. Bill is going off to kindergarten and really doesn't seem to be all that anxious about it. However, he does want to be prepared.
It won't take long for kids to see the silliness in everything Bill wants to pack up and take along with him. With easy, sometimes goofy language Tony Johnston has written a very supportive book in which she subtly, but clearly, presents a positive message that just may help the first-time student get out the door. Without dwelling at all on the negative feelings, or jitters, that some kids experience, she shows Bill going around his house and yard, packing up all of his belongings. He seems happy and no one interferes, until the very end, when his mom assures him that the teacher will take care of everything.
This is just one of the more than 80 books written and/or illustrated by Tony Johnston. Most of them have been picture books. Her first novel for young readers (8-11), Any Small Goodness: A Novel of the Barrio, was voted Children's Book of the Year by the Southern California Booksellers Association.
Other choices
More Books for Jittery New Students:
The Kissing Hand by Audrey Penn
Miss Bindergarten Gets Ready for Kindergarten by Joseph Slate
Timothy Goes to School by Rosemary Wells
More Books by Tony Johnston:
Chickens in the Kitchen
Sticky People
The Worm Family
It's About Dogs
Parents and kids say
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