Five Days Till Summer

June 1, 2012

K-Gr 2-As the school year comes to a close, Pearl, a rabbit, and Wagner, a mouse, are thinking ahead and curious about Ms. Bean, who will be their teacher in the fall. While walking down the hall, Pearl peers inside Ms. Bean's classroom, and it is quiet-too quiet. Her imagination runs wild as she conjures up horrible things that youngsters might be forced to do in Ms. Bean's class, frightening herself and the others when she tells them. When the teacher and her current class visit with Pearl and Wagner's, bringing snacks from their garden, the children have an opportunity to ask questions. Soon their worries are alleviated. (No, they will not be made to count backward from 100 by sevens.) The pen-and-ink, watercolor, and colored-pencil illustrations feature characters' emotions that are easy to interpret, and they will draw readers in. Children who worry about what the next school year might hold for them will find this book reassuring.-Janene Corbin, Rosebank Elementary School, Nashville, TN

Copyright 2012 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

August 1, 2012
Grades 1-3 In the latest installment from the Geisel Honor-winning creators of Pearl and Wagner: One Funny Day (2009), the last days of school are filled with emotional tension about next year's teachers: will they be nice or mean nice or mean? Pearl, who shares the independent spirit of Kevin Henkes' Lilly, decides early, on slim evidence, that next year's teacher is mean. In contrast to Mo Willems' Elephant and Piggie books, where only two characters work through issues, here a whole classroom of voices are heard throughout the three easily accessible short chapters.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)