Never Spit On Your Shoes (Orchard Paperbacks)

I absolutely adore this story. Cazet's language is lyrical and figurative without being overbearing; he certainly does not dumb down his language for the younger readers. I am a big fan of uncontrolled vocabulary. Further, the illustrations not on reinforce the text, but they extend it with more visual narratives. For example: while the protagonist tells his mother about his first day of school, he leaves out many details that we get to see, such as a child animal giving the teacher advice like "never spit on your shoes," and everyone taking a nap (one inside of a desk) while the teacher reads them a story.

Arnie tells his mom about his first day of first grade. Each page has two parts, the part where Arnie says what happened and the part where you see what really happened. The combination of the two is priceless. Especially when Arnie learns how to spell B-O-Y-S because he goes into the girls bathroom and they teach him.

Classroom connections:A fun way to introduce kindergarden to the many joys of 1st grade. Would be a good buddy book for older elementary students to read to K-1 students.

After coming home from an exciting first day of first grade, Arnie tells his mother about his fun filled day. He found his desk, helped the teacher make the rules, went on a tour of his school, and played with his friend Raymond. In P.E., Arnie was the prisoner, but Raymond tagged him free. He gives his mother a field trip form to sign that says they were going to the aquarium. Arnie runs to his room to find his swim fins. Fun illustrations reveal that Arnie may not be telling the whole truth about his day. A fun book to read on the first day of school to students to show what not to do!

I never want to teach first grade, and I don't want to give little kids any idea of the kind of stuff Cazet thinks they might want to be ready for. I also agree with the other reviewers who didn't like the bit about the mother on the diet, or the girl mocking a boy for not being able to read.

The book talks about what's first grade like. Arnie talks about all the different things they did and the other classmates' personality. The art work is pretty simple but has lots of colors from water color. It would be a great book to read to students when they start school to help them get re-adjusted to school and know their expectations.

Arnie is a bear that tells his mother about his first day of first grade. There are lots of exciting things that happened and rules they had to learn. After Arnie has finished telling his mother about his day he has to look for his swimming fins because they are going on a field trip to the aquarium.

I am going to give this book to my first grade teachers because if they haven't read it they will love it. It gives everyone an idea of how life in the first grade really is.

Arnie comes home from his first day of first grade and tells his mother all about the things he did that day.