Ann Schweninger

Awfully sweet. Simple, but fun for ages 4-6, with great ideas how to celebrate, including how to make your own valentines instead of buying disposable ones.

Summary:
This book is about a little girl who is going to school for the first time. Her name is Amanda and she is a part of a family of pigs. Amanda is very excited and she feels ready to finally be a school girls. On the bus ride to school she meets a girl whom she calls lollipop because she sucking on a lollipop and is too shy to give Amanda her real name.
At school Amanda easily adapts to the new environment and enjoys the activities available to her, however, she and the other children show more notice Lollipop will not speak to or play with any of them. The children try to cheer Lollipop up by making her laugh and Amanda finally manages to do so. None the less Lollipop still will not speak to anyone. The teacher guides the children not to pressure Lollipop. Finally by the end of the day Lollipop whispers her name(Emily ) to Amanda. She an Amanda become friends.

Review:
This book takes tells a different kind of first day of school story. Normally books with this theme tend to center on the main character and focus on that characters struggle to overcome their shyness or nervousness on the first day of school. This book presents us with a main character who far from being afraid or nervous is very confident in herself, and shows how that character helps a fellow classmate. I applaud the author for doing this. It teaches children that not everyone is ready at the same time and that you should help each other rather than alienate that person.

The book is a beguinners level book ( 1st to 2nd grade ) . It has chapters but is also illustrated with only a few lines per page.

The genre is folktale. Eeven tough the characters are animals the setting and the story is very realistic. show less

A fine if not amazing book on fall and it’s holidays, activities and opportunities for nature study.

Good to pair with an autumn homeschool unit.

When her brother goes off to school, Amanda finds new things to do, including ballet dancing, cleaning her room, and making a very sad, mad day go away, with the help of hugs from Mother Pig.