LAST CALL: Back to School with HUMOR and Deep Thoughts

 By today, the day after Labor Day, the last of the holdout schools will be back in session, even though many others have been whirring along since early August. These two picture books have in common that they will fit right into early days/weeks of classroom communities, one with humor and one with reflection about how and where we learn. 

Philomel Books. July, 2021

MY SCHOL STINKS! is cleverly written in first person diary format by Becky Scharnhorst and illustrated with delightful detail by Julia Patton. 

This is a laugh-inducing premise, involving a tentative and nervous student, struggling to be brave and prepared for a first day at a NEW school. Incorporating advice from parents that, while valid, prove unsuccessful (deep breaths, think happy thoughts). 

The illustrations are jam-packed with hints and giggles, demanding a close look on the first read but promising and delivering) even more surprises on return reads. In opening spreads our little bespectacled student draws a map that foreshadows the wrong turn that launches this surprisingly exciting and stinky school experience. With frequent word play, alphabet-linked characters like Charlie Crocodile (with enormous teeth), Betsy Beaver (who chews pencils) and George Gorilla (who picks nits), this diary-driven account of first schools days reveal the ways figurative language can be confusing. Reporting to parents that new classmates are wild animals does not elicit sympathy, since all kids are wild animals, right? 

There's humor-aplenty, and layers of details that will serve to spark discussions about fears/anxiety (deep breaths), making friends, and not judging others based on first looks or assumptions. The twist at the end is a delight and will leave more than a few adults nodding and blushing at themselves. 

TUNDRA BOOKS, 2021

Moving on from fiction/fantasy/humor to a nonfiction/reflective profile of an incident with the  daughter of Charles Darwin, this story travels back more than a hundred years and invites readers to share their walk  on the OVAL THINKING PATH that Darwin developed on his property. ETTY DARWIN and the FOUR PEBBLE PROBLEM is written and illustrated by Lauren Soloy. With earth-toned illustrations and a spotlight firmly fixed on young Etty, they tavel the thinking path to consider various questions. Among them is Etty's question about fairies. It's no surprise that Darwin, always a scientist, expects proof, while Etty wonders if the burden of proof should be on disproving their existence. 

This lovely father-daughter exchange and inquiry offers entertainment and enjoyment, In addition, it is a subtle feast for the eyes, suggesting appreciation for the many ways in which Darwin used observation to build his theories and draw his conclusions. Etty's attention, intellectual debate, and appreciation for her/their relative roles within the larger lives of planet Earth model an inquiry approach to learning. A short author note in back extends the experience by describing the roles Etty assumed as an adult who worked closely with her father in his writing and scientific studies, even though that was a rarity for women in the mid-19th century.

 Besides genre and era, there are multiple ways to contrast and connect these two books. In the first, the animals in school are frightening and fanciful, while the Darwins' walk inserts this gentle pair into nature itself, welcoming an opportunity to think among the critters who reside there. The first title is clearly fanciful while the second feels familiar and focused. the first reveals the story in a journal/diary writing style while the second is written in direct narrative voices. Both are styles of writing offering mentor texts for students own literary craft and growth. Last,  but not least, one is set in a classroom while the other is an example of home-based schooling, an apt comparison for the many students who have experienced both actress the span of a pandemic.

I encourage sharing these two titles in classrooms and homes, whether this is a first week of school or you are already heading into the second month of the school year. There's plenty to enjoy and learn from in each, and even more when they are shared/compared together.