First Grade Dropout

Starred review from April 20, 2015
After Vernick’s young narrator accidentally calls his teacher “Mommy,” he believes that the only reasonable response to this humiliation (after casting aside ideas that involve magic and time machines) is to drop out of Lakeview Elementary School. (The boy takes little comfort when his teacher says, “Don’t worry. It happens every year,” all too aware that everyone—even his best friend—laughed at him.) Vernick’s tousled-haired hero may feel miserable, but he has the self-awareness, timing, and raconteurship of a master monologist; readers will be won over from his intriguing opening line (“I’ve been lots of things”) and quickly assured that this, too, shall pass. So effective is Vernick (Bogart and Vinnie) in conjuring the boy’s blush-inducing, sweat-triggering embarrassment, readers young and old will probably find themselves flashing back to their own not-quite-forgotten moments of humiliation. Likewise, Cordell’s (Special Delivery) sketchlike illustrations, composed of frenetic ink lines and punctuated with washes of bright color, are almost Feifferesque in their sense of emotional spontaneity and comic angst. Ages 4–8. Author’s agent: Erin Murphy, Erin Murphy Literary Agency. Illustrator’s agent: Rosemary Stimola, Stimola Literary Studio.

June 1, 2015
In typical child fashion, an embarrassing slip of the tongue leads one young blond boy to want to drop out of school altogether. Mortified by what he said but even more so by the fact that his best friend, African-American Tyler, led the laughter that followed it, the unnamed narrator imagines what he might do now: he could cast a spell to unsay what he said or invent a time machine or pretend to be a new kid in school. Or perhaps he'll just stay home and work on his jump shot until he's a teenager and then get a job, but he sure will miss his friends and all the things they do together. But when he passes Tyler at the soccer field, his friend acts like nothing happened. Not only that, he makes a slip of his own, and just like that, the boy is a dropout no longer. Throughout, Vernick plays with the ideas of mockery and embarrassment-the boy himself laughed at something that happened to Tyler last year, and though he swore he wouldn't laugh at his friends ever again, he does. Tyler defuses the situation by laughing at himself, and that makes all the difference. Cordell's ink-and-watercolor illustrations masterfully portray the first-person narrator's every emotion: chagrin, nervousness, embarrassment, sadness, anger. A sure conversation-starter about empathy. (Picture book. 5-9)

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August 1, 2015

PreS-Gr 1-After an embarrassing incident in class, a boy decides that he is a laughingstock and does not want to return to Lakeview Elementary. "I've been lots of things. Hungry. Four years old. Crazy bored. Soaking wet.... But the worst thing to be is what I am right now." Vernick builds the narrative tension masterfully as the narrator miserably considers ways he might hide from his shame. Maybe he could use magic? A time machine? Unfortunately, there is no getting around it. He will have to drop out of school. He accidentally called his teacher "Mommy." And everyone laughed, even his best friend. Sure, the narrator laughed last year when his best friend's Halloween costume fell off-"but that was FUNNY." Kids will revel in the humor even as they sympathize with the main character's agony. Cordell's scribbly lined ink and watercolor illustrations are marvelously expressive and heighten the humor and the pathos of the narrator's predicament. Teachers and parents will eagerly use this titles as a conversation opener about compassion. Children and adults alike will be comforted by the reminder of how fleeting even the worst embarrassments often are. VERDICT This winning picture book will be popular for its entertainment value, as well as for its potential to introduce ideas about empathy.-Rachel Anne Mencke, St. Matthew's Parish School, Pacific Palisades, CA

Copyright 2015 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

June 1, 2015
Grades K-2 With cartoonish, frenetic lines and messy blobs of color, the childlike style of Cordell's illustrations make Vernick's message clear: school life and friendship can be confusing. When a nameless first-grader makes an embarrassing misstep in class, dropping out of school seems like his only option. His big mistake? Accidentally calling his teacher Mommy, eliciting his classmates' laughs. This boy, who looks a bit like Dennis the Menace but has nothing of his oblivious confidence, fills the pages with thought bubbles bursting with worries. Convinced he will never be able to go to school again (except maybe in disguise), he imagines casting a spell to unsay what was said, or building a machine to go back in time, or just staying at home until he is old enough to get a job. Finally, though, his friend Tyler makes a similar mistake, and the two realize it's okay to learn to laugh at themselves. Many readers will recognize themselves in these pages. For collections where confidence-boosting books are popular.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)