Back to School: There's No Place Like School: Classroom Poems selected by Jack Prelutsky

IT'S TODAY?

FRANTIC
PANIC.
SINKING
SORROW.
THE SCIENCE TEST
IS NOT
TOMORROW.

All the highs and lows of life are part of the school experience. Finding out that you thought you had another day to study for a dreaded test is not one of life's best moments, but it's one all but the most nerdy of students has known. But the school day also has its moments of joy:

B-BALL

REBOUND.
SWISH SOUND.
BOUNCE PASS.
BREAK FAST.
THREE IN THE KEY.
OVER TO ME.
HOOK
SHOT.
I'M HOT.
BACK COURT SHOT!
ROUND THE RIM--
ALMOST IN
FREE THROW.
WAY TO GO!

There's No Place Like School: Classroom Poems, (Greenwillow, 2010) selected by best-selling and award-winning children's poet Jack Prelutsky, hits all the highs and lows and the middling in-between moments, like being lost in the limbo of the school bus ride, in this latest edition just in time for back-to-school-days. Selected by Prelutsky from a wide range of children's poets, from Lee Bennett Hopkins ("School Bus"), to Kenn Nesbitt ("The Drinking Fountain") and Kelli Davos ("Countdown to Recess"), this collection also includes a couple of his own poems, "We're Shaking Maracas," a tribute to the glorious sounds of music class, and "Grasshopper Gumbo," a salute to those mystery meat concoctions in the cafeteria. With bright cartoons by Jane Manning, there's a poem there that captures most of the emotions and humor of the school day. A great choice for a young scholar or a teacher preparing for the first day of school.