Green-Eyed Monster Attack? Way Past Jealous by Hallee Adelman

I MADE MY BEST PICTURE EVER, BUT NOBODY NOTICED.

DEBBY DREW A DOG, AND EVERYONE LOVED IT.

I FELT JEALOUS.

Yaz feels mad and sad and mean as she watches the other kids crowd around to admire Debbie's drawing and sees Miss Pimmy put it up at the top of the bulletin board. She tries drawing dogs like Debby's, but someone says her dogs look like bumblebees. Yaz feels awful. Even when Debby saves a seat for her at lunch, she sits at a different table and slips into the empty classroom to take down Debby's drawing.

I DIDN'T FEEL SO GOOD.

"I'M SORRY. I WAS JEALOUS." SHE SAYS.

"THAT'S MEAN!" SAID DEBBY.

At home Dad notices that Yaz is sad and gives her a hug, listens to her story, and wisely lets her decide how to handle it all.

Jealousy is an difficult emotion. If it is justified, that is, if someone has litle talent for something they want to do, it's hard on the ego. On the other hand, if someone's work has merit which is unfairly ignored, it violates that innate dislike of injustice we all share. In some areas, like artwork, there is some room for difference of opinion; in others, like competitive sports, there are clear winners, and as the saying goes, "To the winner go the spoils"--admiration and attention.

In Hallee Adelman's newest, Way Past Jealous (Great Big Feelings) (Albert Whitman Publishing, 2021), Yaz decides that keeping a friendship is more important than a spot at the top of the bulletin board, but this is a subtle issue that deserves the exploration of feelings from parents and teachers that this story can encourage. Karen Wall's sensitive spot-art illustrations reveal feelings honestly and gently portray the resolution of strong emotions through understanding between friends. Says Booklist, "... an excellently crafted behavioral story that addresses a very specific but universal moment in emotional development, and it deftly, healthily, and subtly navigates through the familiar, murky waters of envy."

This duo are also the creators of the companion books, Way Past Mad (Great Big Feelings) and Way Past Sad (Great Big Feelings).

Been Cool? The Cool Bean by Jory John

BEANSIDE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
Home of the Pods

All of a sudden, some beans are the really cool beans.

The Cool Beans are known all over school.

The rest of us are--HAS BEENS.

Oh, this Has Bean tries.

I wore sun glasses. I slicked my hair back.

But when it comes to being cool, copying the Cool Beans only makes you even more un-COOL.

And then things get worse for Has Bean. He drops his tray in the cafeteria. He falls off the slide. One day he gets caught daydreaming when the teacher calls on him. People laugh... How low can he go? He feels as limp as a canned green bean. He feels as squashed as a toddler's green peas. He feels smaller than a lentil.

But then one of the Cool Beans comes over and shows him his place on the page.

THEN SHE GAVE ME A WINK!

Just knowing someone has your back makes things cool in legume-land in Jory John's latest, The Cool Bean (Harper, 2019). Kids will readily recognize the coolness factor that begins in elementary school, giving this latest of John's little life lessons resonance with early graders. We can't all be COOL, but we can all be KIND, and with plenty of beanpod puns and Pete Oswald's comic illustrations, at least there can be peace in this pod. Kirkus Reviews says, "Cool beans, indeed!"

Larceny Is NOT the Best Policy! I Am A Thief! by Molly Ruttan

Eliza Jane Murphy was a girl of impeccable character-–the Line Leader for Ms. Delano’s class, Chief Officer of the Worm Rescue Team, and a good classmate to all...

...until she saw the big shiny green stone on the Exploring Green Table.

It was gorgeous--and irresistible.

Suddenly Eliza Jane was something else--

I am a thief!

And with the misappropriated gem in her purse, suddenly Eliza Jane felt like a different person. Even her handwriting was crooked! She was repentant right away. but there was no way to put the green stone back without admitting to the whole class that she was a thief. She pretended to help look for the snitched stone, but she felt as if her guilt made her glow a tell-tale green all over.

At home she asked her dad if he had ever stolen anything.

“Never!” he said, looking shocked.

Mom admits that she had once taken a magnet, but returned it right away. Nana Iris said she occasionally takes a couple of sugar packets home from the coffee shop, and Grandpa George confessed once swiping his friend Bill’s Yankees keychain.

“By golly was he mad!” he chuckled.

Her baby brother Jack once confiscated a submarine sandwich from a sunbather’s beach bag. Uncle Tim’s goat had pilched Jack’s underpants as a snack. It seems everyone (but Dad) had been a thief. But somehow that didn’t make Eliza Jane feel any better. In fact, her guilt just got worse.

I knew what I had to do.

Confession is good for the soul, in Abigail Raynor’s latest, I Am a Thief! (North/South Books, 2019. An admission of guilt is made to Ms. Delano, who commends her courageous contrition, the green stone is penitently returned to its place on the Exploring Green Table, and with amends made, Eliza Jane realizes that nobody is perfect.

But artist Molly Ruttan’s illustrations for this story are indeed very nearly perfect, with pathos and plenty of visual humor, as Eliza Jane spots a pencil on Ms. Delano’s desk clearly labeled Bill’s Café, Dad is caught sneaking a big bedtime slice of cake from the fridge, and even her cat is seen making off with Eliza’s bedtime bunny. This story’s theme of repentance offers much insight into a common childhood lesson on the virtue of honesty as well as human foibles.

Abigail Raynor is also the author of The Backup Bunny. (1)

What's In A Name? My Name is Wakawakaloch! by Chana Stiefel

"Wakawakaloch was in a volcanic mood.

Everyone is bungling her name.

"Walawala!"

"Wammabammasiamma!"

Lokamokacok!"

In every class--Sabertooth Safety Class, Boulder Rolling, even Club Club--her name is mangled.

Back at her cave, she complains.

Me changing my name to Gloop!"

Nobody says her name right, and for sure she'll never find a T-shirt with a name like Wakawakaloch on it!

Her family is dismayed. Wakawakaloch is a name that goes way back in their family. Pa thinks she's lost her pebbles and takes her for a consultation with Elder Mooch, the village's wisest Neanderthal.

Although Mooch smells like ripe mammoth poop, he gives her some good advice:

"My dear, you are forward thinker. You must be backwards seer, too."

And that night, as she tosses and turns on her polar bear skin, Wakawakaloch notices the carvings on the cave's wall, showing the brave and heroic acts of the great-great-great-great-great grandmother whose name is also hers. Awestruck, she places her hand on the print of her mighty ancestor. They match exactly!

Forget Gloop! With such a powerful name, she, too, can be great--beginning with creating T-shirts with everyone's name, in Chana Stiefel's brand-new My Name Is Wakawakaloch! (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2019). This spoof of prehistoric name angst will give readers a giggle, but kids who have common names and those who have uncommon ones will be fascinated to learn that all names, even the most ordinary, have meanings--Mary means "beloved" and William means "willing protector!"

This humorous little story is a good way of opening up discussion of the conflict between fitting in and being yourself. There's a personalized T-shirt out there for all of us, and the Geisel Award-winning Mary Sullivan's comic faux-naif illustrations offer sight-gags that will give young readers plenty of reasons to chuckle and perhaps send them eagerly to a dictionary of names as well. This is a charming picture book that offers varied learning possibilities and deepens understandings of the power of a name.

Um + Gurm =Threep Frints: Best Frints at Skrool by Antoinette Portis

On planet Boborp, childrinx go to skrool.

... to listen when their skreecher spleeks...
... and to keep their tentacles to themselves.

Sometimes childrinx make new frints.

Yelfred and Omek were best frints at skrool, until... one recess in which Yelfred makes a new best frint--Q-B.

Q-B is COOL.

And poor Omek is out in the COLD, frintship wise. Yelfred and Q.B. split their yunches with each other. Omek sadly eats alone.

Yelfred and Q-B are playing the old "gurm's company, threep's a crowd" game.

Other stroodents begin to share too much of their yunches with each other. Spewd flies through the air and hits some childrinx in their faces. It's a . . .

... SPEWD FLIGHT!!!

The Boborpian yunch ladies are even less harpy than usual....! And the Boborpian skrool skreechers are not pleased with their stroodents.

Q-B and Yelfred get a long time-out by the Quiet Wall. And Q-B, Omek and Yelfred realize that they didn't get much of a yunch.

By the time skrool is out, all threep of them are hungry. Starping, actually. It's time to share some spewd the frintly way, as the threep new frints head over to Yelfred's house for some after-skrool smacks.

And all's well that ends well in a fun match of eye-ball in the peedle patch between the threep pals, in Antoinette Portis' latest, Best Frints at Skrool (Roaring Brook Press, 2018), the sequel to her first book in series, Best Frints in the Whole Universe. All kids in the primary grades will love artist Antoinette Portis' quirky alien kids, worm sandwiches and all, and second and third graders, who've likely developed a taste for wordplay, will delight in author Portis' Boborpian lingo, especially "skreecher" for "teacher" and "spewd" for "food." Funny endpapers offer more vocabulary lessons in how to spleek Boborpian--algazator (as in Later, 'zator!) bloox (books) and the Sturp signs (Whatever you're doing, don't do it anymore!) and how to count from um to gazango (one to ten) in Boborpian.

This blook is lotz of phun for primary skroodents!

Ghoulish Grads! Fright School by Janet Lawler

A darkening school on an autumn night
With moonlight streaming in,
Echoes with a midnight bell
For classes to begin.

Who goes to school at midnight?

It's a ghoul school, so monsters matriculate happily where the curriculum instructs them on how to haunt on Halloween.

In some ways it's like a regular school. Skeletons skateboard to class. Young bats with braces on their fangs wear Gothic black, Dracula tries to sleep through class, and ghosts try to disappear into the woodwork when they can't find their homework.

Picky eaters groan, "Our apples don't taste rotten."

The devilish janitor grumbles at werewolves who don't wipe their paws, and the school nurse is always running out of gauze for the mummies.

But now everything is focused toward graduation on Halloween, of course. Clutching diplomas, the new grads toss their caps and head out into the night because it is time to try to terrify this year's trick-or-treaters--if they dare!

"WE DO FRIGHT RIGHT!" is the school motto in Janet Lawler's spoof of a spook academy in her new Fright School (Albert Whitman, 2018), illustrated with humorous take-offs of the school scene with whimsical skill by Chiara Galletti. Share this one with Lola Schaeffer's equally spooktacular spoof, Frankie Stein Starts School (see review here).

Standing Out! Geraldine by Elizabeth Lilly

"I AM NOT MOVING!"

"GERALDINE," SAYS MOM. "WHAT DID I TELL YOU ABOUT BEING A DRAMA QUEEN?"

Geraldine is a drama queen, but this time she has good reason. In her old school, where everyone was a giraffe, she didn't exactly stand out in the crowd. But when Dad takes her to her new school, she's the only one who is DIFFERENT--in a great big way!

"Here, I feel like That Giraffe Girl."

Suddenly, Geraldine has become an introvert. Even her voice is tiny and timid.

At lunch time, Geraldine takes to hiding, or trying to hide, behind a tree, but her long neck seems to have no place to go. Then she notices she's not the only one lunching alone.

"I bet you've heard of me," the solitary girl says.

"I'm that girl who wears glasses and likes MATH and likes to organize her food."

Cassie and Geraldine hit it off and soon learn that they have a lot in common. Cassie is a bit different, but she's fun and does a fabulous handstand! Cassie discovers that Geraldine is more than just different, too. She's quite the dancer and a naturally dramatic actress.

And soon, bolstered by their friendship, Geraldine drags Cassie to brave the bunch at the lunch table.

"Cassie can stay in a handstand for 167 seconds," Geraldine announces.

Melinda Bucket is very impressed.

And Geraldine cracks up the whole lunch bunch with her outstanding imitation of the Queen of England, and soon nobody calls her Giraffe Girl anymore.

Geraldine knows that she will always stand out in a crowd in Elizabeth Lilly's Geraldine (Roaring Book Press, 2018) and that's a good thing. Author Elizabeth Lilly' portrayal of Geraldine lets her stand tall and be herself among her new friends, and Lilly's artwork make the most of the possibilities of that long, long neck, as Geraldine dries her eyes on the flag at the top of the flagpole. dunks the basketball on the playground, and is a natural starring as the tallest tree in the school play. Author Lilly's debut is a lighthearted look at being yourself and going with what you've got in a gentle but genuinely funny story about accepting differences. Says Kirkus in their starred review,"Lilly's bright, classic watercolors, brimming with whimsy and charm, create an immersive world of details big and small. Readers will fall in love with Geraldine in this stellar debut."

Time to Shine: The Dinosaur Expert by Margaret McNamara

Kimmy collected things...rocks and shells and leaves and pebbles and feathers.

She even collected owl pellets.

But of all the things that Kimmy collected, fossils were her favorite.

So when Mr. Tiffin's class is scheduled for a field trip to the Natural History Museum, Kimmy knows she will be in her element.

Kimmy couldn't wait to share!

But Jake is used to thinking of himself as the class leader, the guy who knows it all, and when Kimmy volunteers all she knows about allosauruses, he challenges her right away.

"Girls aren't scientists." Jake declares definitively.

Kimmy grew quiet.

And as the class makes its way through the dinosaur exhibit, Kimmy reads the placards about the famous paleontologists of history--Edward Cope, Earl Douglass, O. C. Marsh. All men.

"See?" said Jake.

Mr. Tiffin leads them to a glass case with a small skeleton and asked if anyone knows what it was.

"Archaeopteryx, Jurassic period," whispered Kimmy.

Kimmy offers information about oviraptors sitting on their eggs to protect them, but when Mr. Tiffin asks her to tell the class all she knows about them, she glances at Jake and quietly declines.

But when Mr. Tiffin deftly steers the class to the case for a rare specimen, Gasparinisaura Cinco altensis, Kimmy reads the plaque which names the scientist who found and classified the specimen, Zulma de Gasparini--a woman! A woman dinosaur scientist!

Suddenly Kimmy speaks up, proud of what she knows and happy to share it.

"Early raptors had five fingers and later raptors had three." she said.

"How come?" asked Jake.

"They evolved," replied Kimmy. "They kept what they needed and changed what they didn't!"

And there is a bit of evolving going on in Mr. Tiffin's class, in Margaret McNamara's latest primary grade picture book, The Dinosaur Expert (Mr. Tiffin's Classroom Series) (Schwartz and Wade, 2018). With perceptive and carefully crafted narration, the author lets her characters gently evolve a new attitude about gender roles. Artist G. Brian Karas' subtle illustrations extend the author's text perfectly in the expressions of Kimmy and Jake's classmates and in their own faces as they subtly negotiate new roles for themselves. The latest book in this noted series reminds us that primary teachers teach more than just the facts. Says Kirkus in their starred review, "A pivotal moment in a child's life, handled with grace and sensitivity rather than conflict or ineffective lecturing."

This one is a worthy successor to McNamara's and Karas' deft collaboration in the Mr. Tiffin's Classroom series, How Many Seeds in a Pumpkin? (Mr. Tiffin's Classroom Series) (read my review here.

Story Starter: Idea Jar by Adam Lehrhaupt

THIS IS MY TEACHER'S IDEA JAR.

WE KEEP OUR STORY IDEAS IN IT.

MY TEACHER SAYS SAYS STORIES CAN BE ABOUT ANYTHING WE WANT.

Not surprisingly, this elementary school class has some classic story starters in that jar--a dragon, a Viking, a unicorn, a robot, a tiger--all the usual suspects. But these potential story characters are getting a bit restive in that crowded jar. The giraffe and dragon poke their heads out to catch a breath of fresh air.

There's a fine variety of of characters there, from cat to cowgirl, and they all want their own story. What to do?

Teacher points out that the kids can choose their medium.

WRITE IT. DRAW IT. TALK IT.

COMBINE IDEAS TO MAKE YOU STORY BETTER.

As authors will tell you, some characters take over their own story. The Viking tips the jar over and lets everyone out. The horseless cowgirl mounts the dragon and takes on the Viking and the space robot.

Who wants to create a city for the kitty? Anybody ready for a yeti yet?

It's a free-for-all as the kids get busy drawing and writing and talking about their ideas, in Adam Lehrhaupt's Idea Jar (Simon and Schuster, 2018). Author Adam Lehrhaupt puts his jar of "writing prompts" to work in this story about stories, while artist Deb Pilutti comes up with a charming coloration and a plot full of story starters running amok, as the Viking's ocean even threatens to overflow the classroom. Pilutti make use of comic speech balloons as her charges take charge of their own premises in a fun read-aloud to kick off a class brainstorm to get the creative juices flowing in young writers' fertile imaginations.

Share this one with Briane Farley's Ike's Incredible Ink (review here) or Joan Holub's Little Red Writing (see review here.).

Field Trip: My Trip to the Science Museum by Mercer Mayer

IT WAS SCIENCE DAY AND MY CLASS TOOK THE BUS TO THE SCIENCE MUSEUM.

A science museum, with its exciting exhibits and its happy hands-on science activities is like an educational theme park, and Little Critter and his crew are full of curiosity about what they can see and do.

And they are in luck. Their tour will be hosted by none other than Dr. Neil DaBison, the famous television science celebrity. Their teacher Miss Kitty and Dr. DaBison treat them to activities like making a potato battery, touching a glop of plasma. Then Miss Kitty and Dr. DaBison bravely touch the Van de Graaff generator, which makes their hair stand straight up.

THEY LOOKED SO SILLY!

But there's more! There is the planetarium show, where they feel as if they are flying through space and circling the planets themselves and see what must be billions of stars. Then the kids have lunch aboard a model of the Space Shuttle.

Finally it is time to tell Dr. DaBison goodbye and get in line up to climb back on the bus for what now seems like a very slow and short trip through space back to their school. But Little Critter is inspired.

"I WANT TO GROW UP TO BE YOU, DR. DA BISON. YOU HAVE THE BEST TOYS IN THE UNIVERSE!"

Mercer Mayer's latest Little Critter tale, Little Critter: My Trip to the Science Museum (Harper Festival, 2017) is the perfect book to prepare preschoolers and lower primary students for a museum field trip. Mercer Mayer's illustrations of "Dr. DaBison" (a.k.a the real Neil deGrasse Tyson) are quite skilled caricatures, making the famous PBS star scientist easily recognizable to savvy youngsters, and this adventure featuring Mayer's famous character gives kids a realistic look at what they can see and do at a science museum.

Back to School? Second Grade Holdout by Audrey Vernick

I was a lot of things in first grade.

Star of the Day.

Unable to sit still (according to Ms. Morgan).

In the same class as my best friend, Tyler.

Tyler and I were pretty much kings of the twisty slide.

But things are not looking so good for second grade. His dad lays down the law about his priorities.

"Your job is to be a good student!" Dad says.

Then our rising second grader finds out that his friend Tyler is assigned to Mrs. Herman's class, while he has Mr. Glazer. It's time for Plan A. He figures he can kinda sneak into Mrs. Herman's class on the first day, incognito. His parents proclaim firmly that's never going to happen. He's underwhelmed with Mom's promise of the excitement of the second-grade field trip to the town jail.

Okay, it's time for Plan B.

Maybe he'll just stay in first grade. First grade has a lot going for it. Ms. Morgan understands him. He'll be, like, Lakeview School's most brilliant first grader ever! And on the zoo trip, he's sure to win the scavenger hunt prize! But, nope! Mom refuses to sign off on Plan B, too.

Second grade sounds like a lot of work. Tyler's two big sisters enthusiastically spell it out in discouraging detail. Sabrina describes the curriculum.

"You have to spell words like rendezvous and platypus. You have to speak Russian by Thanksgiving.

You have to learn the presidents by heart. Forward AND backward. Or you fail."

Tyler's sisters have more bad news. Mr. Glazer loves basketball but Ms. Herman hates it. The boys counter with the consolation that at least they can play ball together at recess.

And then comes the killer. Jacqueline drops the big bomb.

"Mrs Herman doesn't allow recess!" she says.

Hey!Wait! Have Tyler's sisters finally managed to exceed credulity, going one tall tale over the line?

The kings of the twisty slide cannot be tricked!

After all, first grade graduates weren't born yesterday, in Audrey Vernick's latest, Second Grade Holdout (Houghton Mifflin Clarion, 2017). Author Vernick dramatically paces her page turns perfectly in this second book about the perils of the primary grades, and artist Matthew Cordell frames his skillfully crafted cartoon illustrations in spot-art style, center page, with a mastery of facial expression and body language that pretty much tells the story to perfection in tandem with Vernick's text. Share this one with their 2015 hit for the back-to-school set, First Grade Dropout (see review here.) for a first choice for the first day of school!

Revenge of the Nerd! Seven Rules You Absolutely Must Not Break If You Want to Survive The Cafeteria by John Grandits

Kyle's on the school bus, nose in his trusty insect book, while his seatmate Ginny natters on and on about the virtues and vices of the celery sticks in her sack lunch. Trying to be sociable, Kyle volunteers something that makes Ginny's eyes bug out.

"Mom didn't have time this morning, so I'm buying my lunch in the cafeteria."

Ginny gasped.

"How hard can it be?" I said.

That question is Kyle's first mistake. Ginny leans in dramatically.

"There are RULES!"

#1: DON'T HOLD UP THE LINE.
#2: DON'T TAKE TOO MANY THINGS.
#3: DON'T FORGET TO PAY.
#4: ALWAYS EAT WITH YOUR CLASSMATES.
#5: HOLD ON TO YOUR TRAY.
#6: NEVER AGGRAVATE THE LUNCH LADY.
#7: NEVER, EVER, TALK TO THE BIG KIDS.

Kyle doesn't like rules. They are too easy to break. His bug book under his arm, he scurries nervously down the hall to lunch with the other fifth graders like a line of army ants, the scary sixth graders hot on their heels, looking more like a swarm of yellow jackets, with the worst bus bully, Arthur, right behind him.

But the posted menu is long, and Kyle pauses to squint at each choice. Arthur pokes him in the back:

"Hey, Dweeb! Get moving!"

Yikes! He's already broken the first rule of survival. But Food Service Guy barks at Arthur. Quickly, Kyle stammers out a truthful explanation.

"It's not his fault," I said. "I was taking too long."

In short order, Kyle finds himself breaking every one of Ginny's rules. He piles his tray with all the choices and gets busted by the Lunch Line Lady. He doesn't know his PIN to pay the Register Woman, and when he hustles to get the last empty seat with his class, he trips and fall flat, the contents of his tray splattering everywhere. Every kid in the room turns to look and in that time-honored school custom, they hoot with one voice. All the Cafeteria Ladies have had it with Kyle. The Lunch Monitor glares down at him.

"That's it! You've caused enough trouble for today."

Eyes bulging like a beetle, she points a skinny, hairy appendage toward the sixth grade table, to the only empty seat in the house, right next to Arthur the bully.

He was hunched over his food with five other meat-eating water bugs. What could I do?

"Hey, Dweeb! Thanks for covering for me in the line," Arthur says.

It's The Revenge of the Nerd, in John Grandit's Seven Rules You Absolutely Must Not Break If You Want to Survive the Cafeteria (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2017), in which Kyle encounters all of the hazards of the school cafeteria--the bully, the menu, the wrath of the various Lunch Ladies and Guys, the dropped tray, and (horror of horrors) having to sit with the Big Kids. The only nemesis he navigates easily is the food. Sure, the pasta may look like worms, but creepy-crawly critters are Kyle's passion, and while slurping up his spaghetti, he engrosses and grosses out the sixth graders with his true tales of fifty-feet-long tapeworms and headless living cockroaches.

Artist Michael Allen Austin ably portrays his entomology-obsessed hero as the perfect preppy nerdboy in his pressed blue oxford shirt and scholarly glasses, with beloved bug book under his arm. Kyle is the quintessential bully bait, but also one with a secret weapon--he's a nice guy who knows really cool gross stuff. Austin's illustrations fill the full-bleed pages with comic bobble-head caricatures of the usual suspects of the middle-grader school scene, sure to tickle kids and a sure-fire hit for back-to-school reading.

For more first-days of school fun, pair this one with Grandit's and Austin's comedic and congenial companion book, Ten Rules You Absolutely Must Not Break if You Want to Survive the School Bus.

BEWARE OF THE HAMSTER! Ferocious Fluffity by Erica Perl

Mr. Drake's class has a new pet.She's tiny and cute; she looks so sweet! They love her fluff and her neat little feet. But Mr. Drake has an important pet point to make.

"Look, don't touch!
She's too little. It's too much!

Though the children nodded YES,
Did they mean it? Take a guess.

The kids in Room 2-D all secretly plan to get their hands on Fluffity at the first opportunity.

And then fate steps in. Mr. Drake sleeps late. The unsupervised class shouts HOORAY! Today is the day for Fluffity's first hands-on experience!

No one's sure who held her first.
Things got bad. Then things got worse.

She was tiny, she was cute.
She was also quite a brute!

Bert is the first to be bit, but when he yells, (Yee-OUCH!), another student catches Fluffity and gets chomped. The hamster goes from hand to hand, with the same results, from Zonder and Zuna to both Kevin K and Kevin B. Fluffity takes it on the lam down the hall, with Nathan getting the worst of the capture effort.

She bit "Dathan" on his "dose."

She bit Perrie, Pam and Paul.
She bit them, bit them, bit them all.

As the kids from Room 2-D take refuge in the library from their mighty-bitey mite, Mr. Drake rushes in, just in time to get bit on the ankle. It's not exactly the sharing and shared experience he had in mind for their first classroom pet.

All's well at last, as Mr. D. calms Room 2-D and restores Fluffity to her hamster habitat, explaining that hamsters have to be handled tactically until they settle in and suggests letting their pet release some of her nervous energy on her exercise wheel before approaching her again. And then he surprises the class with their second classroom pet--Jake the Snake. The kids are thrilled, but Fluffity finds that she is NOT.

Lila Perl's Ferocious Fluffity: A Mighty Bite-y Class Pet (Abrams Books, 2016) features her funny couplets in this witty tale of their tiny terror, with notable children's artist Henry Cole taking over the visual storytelling with his usual hilarious illustrations, from the fearful Fluffity to the well-individualized kids in the class and the mega-cool Mr. Drake. Cole even manages to put in a plug for books and reading in the bulletin boards posted in the classroom, hall, and particularly the apropos BOOKS YOU CAN SINK YOUR TEETH INTO! in the library. A perfect cautionary tale for kids (and teachers) contemplating a new class pet!

Lila Perl and Henry Cole are the co-creators of the noted giggle-fest pair, Chicken Butt and Chicken Butt's Back! (See reviews here.)

Wingin' It! Chicken Lily by Lori Mortenson

LILY WAS A LOT OF THINGS.

A CAREFUL COLORER, A PATIENT PUZZLER...

BUT LILY WAS SOMETHING ELSE....

Lily is a big chicken.

Oh, Lily is a charming petite little chick. She plays well with others. At recess games of hide-and-seek, she's the last one to be found, because...

SHE NEVER MADE A PEEP!

Although she always knows the answers to the teacher's questions, Lily never lifts a wing to be called on. She's strictly low-profile poultry. In the cafeteria Lily sticks to her little lunch sack of chicken feed while the others pig out on new foods. And as far as Lily is concerned, the training wheels are never coming off her bike.

And then one morning Mrs. Lop posts a notice that strikes terror in Lily's timid craw:

GRAND SLAM POETRY JAM!

Grab your pen and write, write, write.

Read your poem tomorrow night!

Some of Mrs. Lop's pupils are energized by the challenge, but poor Lily nearly molts at the thought. What if she is too mortified to recite? Will she chicken out? Will she stand in front of everyone with egg on her face? What if her recitation lays an egg?

SHE WISHED SHE COULD FLY THE COOP!

But in the best tradition of story book heroines, Lily finds the courage at last to strut her stuff in Lori Mortenson's latest, Chicken Lily (Henry Holt and Company, 2016). Mortenson gives free-range to some wonderful wordplay, laying out a bunch of good groaners, letting almost no chicken cliche' go untouched in this tale of "chicken" Lily, who finally spreads her wings and finds her inner ham just in time. Artist Nina Crittenden populates the illustrations with some undeniably cute barnyard critters who sweetly egg the heroine on as her, er, pluck eventually comes home to roost.

While the plot itself will resonate more with shy Kindergarten and first-grade kids intimidated by their first show-and-tell experiences, more sophisticated primary readers will applaud the ample poultry wordplay, as author Mortenson lays out just about all the poultry puns in the boo and her protagonist puts that famously timid folk character Chicken Little to shame at last.

Don't Say I Didn't Warn You! If You Ever Want to Bring an Alligator to School, DON'T! by Elise Parsley

Nobody said she couldn't!

Magnolia isn't going to settle for a bird's nest or some sparkly rocks! For her first show-and-tell, she's going BIG!

YOU'LL TELL YOUR TEACHER YOUR ALLIGATOR WILL BE QUIET AND GOOD AND WON'T EAT ANYONE, CROSS YOUR HEART!

But Magnolia's alligator didn't get that memo. He cracks up the class during spelling lesson by showing silly drawings, and Magnolia gets her name on the board, which means she has to be last in line for lunch.

Magnolia tries to curb her alligator. Really, she does. But during the art lesson on origami, Magnolia's alligator folds a paper airplane and sails it across the room and right into the back of the teacher's head.

Magnolia gets a check beside her name on the board. NO recess for Magnolia.

DURING MATH, MAGNOLIA NOTICES THAT HER ALLIGATOR IS HUNGRY.

Magnolia intervenes just in time to save a classmate's head from being an alligator appetizer.

YOU WILL BEG HIM NOT TO EAT ANYONE AND FOR PETE'S SAKE, TO WAIT FOR SHOW AND TELL!

Lunch is fairly hairy for Maggie. The good news is that the alligator refrains from eating any actual kids. The bad news is that he eats her lunch and most of everyone else's.

Magnolia gets her name on the board again, with more checks and an underline, which means she has an after-school date with the principal.

And when show-and-tell time finally rolls around, Magnolia has to sit through the usual boring bird's nests and sparkly rock exhibits until it's her turn to present the wonders of her alligator, 76 teeth and all. Her alligator cooperates by brandishing all 76 of them. But Magnolia proves she's in charge. Pointing out that 'gators are only afraid of other alligators and humans, Magnolia faces him down with her very scariest face!

BOOGA BOOGA BOOGA!

Magnolia clears the room as the teacher, kids, AND her alligator run for their lives.

YEAH. IF YOU EVER WANT TO BRING YOUR ALLIGATOR TO SCHOOL. DON'T.

Since Mary brought that lamb to school, kids have loved stories about show-and-tell sessions gone awry, and Elise Parsley's over-the-top If You Ever Want to Bring an Alligator to School, Don't! (Little, Brown and Company, 2015) is already enjoying top-selling success, by virtue of its dead-pan narration juxtaposed against giggle-getting sight gags in the illustrations. The classroom is hung with school banners that read The Swampies, and Parsley even adds a closing endpaper in which Maggie's alligator, hiding inside her locker, scares the heck out of a classmate. It's silly, it's preposterous, and it's a hoot for primary graders who love an outrageously slapstick school story.

And speaking of outrageous stories, School Library Journal compares this one with David Shannon's beloved David Goes To School and adds "This is an engaging debut picture book written in free verse will appeal to a wide age range. Here's hoping for more adventures with Magnolia!"

Cousin Crisis! Don't Feed the Geckos! (The Carver Chronicles) by Karen English

It's after school, and Carlos sits down at the kitchen table to eat his Toaster Tart and eavesdrop on his mother and Tia Lupe's telephone conversation.

Carlos overhears that his cousin Bernardo is coming to stay with them all the way from Texas because Bernardo's mom--Tia Emilia--"needs a fresh start." She's moving to their town and sending Bernardo ahead.

A cousin his age moving in "for a while"--that could be good or bad, Carlos muses. He remembers Bernardo vaguely as a big, bossy kid celebrating his sixth birthday and demanding two pieces of birthday cake at the same time. Maybe having Bernardo around, sort of like a bodyguard, would be a good thing, Carlos thinks. Maybe Mami will let him go to the park or the store anytime he wants if Bernardo is with him. Then Mami interrupts these promising thoughts to tick off jobs for him to do. She tells him firmly to make room in his closet and dresser for Bernardo's stuff.

"I want you to put fresh linens on the top bunk."

"But that's my bunk, Mami," Carlos complains. His little sister Issy is smiling. Sometimes she likes to see Carlos flustered.

"He's had a hard year," Mami says. "I'm thinking Bernardo will probably prefer the top bunk--so let him have it.

Carlos frowns. No way I'm going to let that guy touch my geckos. Or my ant farm, he thinks.

And Carlos' memory is right on target. Bernardo is still big and bossy. He punches Carlos on the arm--hard! He demands to feed the geckos; he leaves his clothes all over the floor; eats all the Toaster Tarts even though Mami only allow one a day for after-school snacks, and then sneaks the empty box back in the cupboard to cover his crime. He stays up playing video games after bedtime and keeps Carlos awake. He fakes his showers most of the time, and when he brushes his teeth, he leaves the spit-out toothpaste all over the sink. He even snores.

It's even worse at school. Mrs. Shelby-Ortiz moves Carlos' best friend Richard and gives Bernardo his seat so Carlos can "help" him learn the class routine, but Bernardo only pretends to do his work. At recess, he announces to all the kids that he's good at all sports. Unfortunately he is. He gets chosen first for teams, and Carlos is picked last, not even on the same team with his friends Gavin and Richard. And after school, Mami takes him to soccer practice with Carlos, and Bernardo takes over the scoring right away and becomes the star of the team, making Carlos look even worse than he is.

Then Carlos sees Bernardo steal three pieces from the 1000-piece puzzle the class is doing, just so it can never be finished. Carlos doesn't want to be a tattletale, a curmudgeonly cousin, but he hates that Bernardo keeps getting away with everything. Carlos wonders just how much longer "for a while" is going to be!

And then one night, Bernardo claims he's done a perfect job of feeding crickets to Carlos' geckos, but in the middle of the night Carlos comes wide awake to the chirp-chirp of loose crickets from the bathroom. That's it! Carlos flips on the bedroom light. It's time for a midnight cousin showdown!

Mami comes in and Carlos unloads all his complaints, even telling about the theft of the puzzle pieces. At first Bernardo denies it all.

"Bernardo--I found the pieces in your backpack. Why?, Bernardo? Why?"

"I ... don't know." Bernardo says. "How come you just fixed it so someone would find them on the floor?"

"Good question." Carlos says.

Family loyalties are complicated, as the award-winning Karen English shows in the latest in her series, Don't Feed the Geckos!: The Carver Chronicles, Book Three (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2015). And when his sister Issy admits being the cause of the great cricket escape, Carlos quickly apologizes to Bernardo, and when he learns that Bernardo's father was killed in the military, he begins to understand his cousin's behavior a little better. As in her earlier books in series, Dog Days: The Carver Chronicles, Book One and Skateboard Party: The Carver Chronicles, Book Two (see reviews here) author English has great insight into early elementary students as they begin to learn how to be members of a family and school community, one with careful respect for the changing child. For young readers Karen English's easy narration and Laura Freeman's realistic but humorous drawings ease the transition from picture book to novel format with great insight and sensitivity.

Be Careful What You Clone! Mad Scientist Academy: The Dinosaur Disaster by Matthew McElligott

ON A COOL SEPTEMBER MORNING, A GROUP OF STUDENTS ARRIVED FOR THE FIRST DAY OF THEIR NEW SCHOOL...

But are the students who straggle into this rather intimidating educational institution the usual fresh-faced, starched-and-combed kids? Not exactly. Matriculating at the Mad Scientist Academy, there's young Wolfgang Wolfman, little Scarlett Vampira, Frank N. Stein, Jr., Tad the Toadboy, Al, a green extraterrestrial--you know, the usual suspects.

And they are welcomed by their professor, appropriately dressed in white lab coat and--thoroughly tied up with plenty of rope.

"I AM DR. COSMIC. I WILL BE YOUR TEACHER THIS YEAR," HE EXPLAINS.

"WHY ARE YOU ALL TIED UP?" VENTURES SCARLETT.

And well may she inquire, because Dr. Cosmic explains that he was overpowered by the school pet Oscar, who just happens to be -- a dinosaur. And then the students are introduced to their paleontology instructor, a holographic skeletal authority appropriately named Dr. Tibia, who leads them into what the kids think is an exhibit of dino displays.

But the students soon discover that the exhibits are not clever models. They are robots, and it seems Dr. Cosmos' robot remote control has a few prehistoric bugs in the system. The system is on the fritz for sure, and the chase is on, with the students left to sort out the survivors on their own, in Matthew McElligott's unusual first day of school romp, Mad Scientist Academy: The Dinosaur Disaster (Crown Books, 2015). Cleverly disguised as a comic adventure, in this opening title, McElligott's premise is definitely educational, with a fine lesson on types of dinosaurs and how they rose and fell in their time. McElligott appends a dinosaur dictionary with thumbnail illustrations and facts about dinosaurs, including a perhaps surprising group, called "Dinosaurs That Survived!" (hint: they taste like chicken!) and adds a web link to more fun with dinosaur lore.

Kirkus Reviews reminds us of that earlier critical and popular success in science nonfiction for kids and comically quips, "Aside from being, you know, mad, Dr. Cosmic is plainly a colleague of Ms. Frizzle, and the mix of pithy banter, tumultuous field-trip mishaps, and science fact is as familiar as it is winning. Fans of the Frizz will be dino-delighted." If this series turns out to be half as informative and fun as The Magic School Bus series, the sound you will be hearing is much cheering from primary school science teachers (most of whom are NOT mad, at least not this early in the school year)--and their students.

And don't think that Ms. Frizzle has parked the Magic Bus in the junkyard and gone to some tropical retirement home. Joanna Cole's and Bruce Degen's latest fun field trip is The Magic School Bus and the Climate Challenge.

A Diller, A Dollar, A Midnight Scholar: Mouse's First Night at Moonlight School by Simon Puttock

THE NIGHT BELL WAS ABOUT TO RING AT MISS MOON'S MOONLIGHT SCHOOL, AND BAT AND CAT AND OWL WERE ALL ON THEIR WAY.

BUT SOMEBODY WAS MISSING....

Mouse is, well, as timid as a mouse, but she's not tardy. She's already inside Miss Moon's schoolroom, but she's shy and already concealed behind a curtain. Miss Moon calls the roll and catches the whispered sound of Mouse's "Here!" from her hiding place.

Kindly but witchy Miss Moon comes up with a break-the-ice game to suit all her students--hide-and-seek. It's just right for bat, who can echo-locate anyone; it's calming for cat, who is curious about the darkest corners, and it's a natural for Owl, who wisely chooses to perch behind a book in the bookcase.

But where is Mouse?

"MOUSE IS REALLY GOOD AT HIDING!" SAID MISS MOON.

"OH, DEAR! MOUSE'S MOTHER WILL BE UPSET...."

"TEE HEE!" GIGGLED MOUSE.

Mouse emerges, a proud winner of the game, from inside Miss Moon's tall black hat, and her first day, er, night fears are gone, in Simon Puttock's Mouse's First Night at Moonlight School (Nosy Crow Books, 2015). Feeling nervous on the first day of school is a common problem, even for creatures of the night, and Puttock's gentle text has the right tone for those students who just wish they could just be invisible on opening day. Ali Pye's nocturnal palette of grays and deep blues, accented by the yellow glow of lanterns and the full moon give this story a late-night setting that is barely scary and mostly cozy for her nighttime scholars.