Julie Danneberg

I really enjoyed this book because of the build up it created for the ending. The book is about a girl who does not want to get out of bed and attend her first day of school. Who you think is her father is encouraging her to get out of bed because her class is excited to meet her but she just continues to say she doesn't want to and "what if they don't like her." By the end of the book you come to find out the man is her husband and the girl under the covers is the teacher. The way the show more author built up the climax really made the ending that much more impactful because the entire book you think it is about a student nervous for her first day, but really it is the teacher who is nervous. We often think that teachers have it all together and they don't get nervous, but in reality it is just as nerve racking for them on their first day as well and it just shows that everyone gets nervous and scared sometimes. I also enjoyed the bright and cartoon like illustrations. The theme of the book is change and how scary it can be sometimes, but it is okay to be nervous because everyone does sometimes. show less

In my opinion, the book "First Day Jitters" is a great book for young readers and would be a great first day of school read. The first thing I really liked about this book was that you had to read all the way to the end to see the surprise. The book misleads you to believe that the main character, Sarah, is a student who is nervous to start at her new school, but when you get to the last page, it is revealed that Sarah is actually a teacher coming to a new school for the first day. Another show more thing I liked about this book was the use of vocabulary. While this book would definitely be a K-2 level, I liked the inclusion of descriptive vocabulary that made the text come alive. The author uses words like "tunneled," "snapped,"stumbled," and "fumbled" to add to the feeling of nervousness Sarah must be feeling. I also liked that the illustrations were detailed and included white space on some of the pages so the reader could focus on the text. The illustrations seem to be done with watercolor and strong black outlines to make each character and object clear. The big idea of the story was to not be nervous about the first day of school and to feel comfortable in a new environment. show less

On the surface, it looks like this book is a simple picture book that isn't any different from other picture books. In reality, this is one of the most well written and illustrated picture books that I have ever read. We can clearly tell that all of the kids and the teacher are sad about school being over, but are still excited for the summer. In order to make themselves ant their teacher feel better, they decide to give their teacher, Mrs. Heeartwell, an end of the year present. The gift show more from the students ends up being a poem of all the things they will miss about school but making sure to point out that they will miss their teacher the most. This book would be a perfect book to have in an elementary school classroom. Its also fun to see that the students think that their teacher will be reading over lesson plans all summer, assuming that teachers don't have lives and that they are sad when they're not in the presence of students. Thats why i think the last page in the book is so important. It shows kids that teachers are real people and they need breaks and to go on vacations just like everyone else. Just about every student that has to experience a last day of school gets that feeling of sadness when they realize that they won't be seeing the same people and doing the same things every day. This book makes students emotions valid, and i think students need to know that their emotions mean something and to not be afraid to express them. One of the things that stood out in the writing and illustrations is that there was some sort of key or symbol in the words that connected each character name to their picture. When it mentions that a kid having from the monkey bars says something, the reader can visually see which specific character is actually speaking. For me, it helped me turn the book into a mini movie in my head. Any book that has the ability to make me wish it was a movie is a star in my book. show less

Mrs. Hartwell prepares her students for the big test by teaching them one more lesson over several test taking skills in order to "know how to show what you know". Even with practice, many of her students experience test anxiety up to the big day. Mrs. Hartwell's last lesson shows that taking time to "stop and relax" before a big test can help relieve these symptoms for a positive test taking experience.

This realistic fictional story does a great job acknowledging test anxiety among students show more with helpful skills and good habits to practice like morning-of-the-test-nutrition. The overall lesson of testing confidence is critical to introduce students in overcoming test anxiety. This book could be used all the way through college for a silly look on a relatable obstacle, but would be very useful introduced in primary grades. show less