100th Day Worries

The story follows a little girl named Sam, who is anxious about the 100th day celebration and worries that she won’t come up with 100 things to bring. Her concerns resonate with familiar "what if?" moments many of children have experienced. Thankfully, Sam’s friends and teacher help her realize that the celebration is about enjoying time together, rather than having the perfect items, reminding us that our fears often seem larger than the actual issue.
Arthur Howard’s warm and inviting illustrations beautifully enhance the story's emotions. Overall, "100th Day Worries" is an uplifting tale that encourages kids to confront their fears and seek support from others.

This third-person picture book details a short story about a girl named Jessica who is a true worrywart, especially when her teacher assigns the class to bring in 100 items to celebrate the 100th day of school. After seeing all of the paperclips and peanuts that came in throughout the week, Jessica struggled to come up with something of her own to share. By the 100th day, Jessica brings in a unique, memorable, and loving collection of items thanks to her family. I really liked this book and its colorful and funny water-color illustrations. I think it’s neat how the story teaches kids about math in the process through the illustrations and dialogue as Jessica counts out all 100 of her items. For example, she brought in 10 screws from show more her dad’s toolbox and Jessica counted, “four big, four small, one giant, and one tiny,” (8) which are also illustrated. This book also shows the creativity Jessica has under pressure as she brings in “100 bits of love,” said by her teacher. Overall, the message of this entertaining picture book is to not fret over the little things in life, because things will turn out just fine. show less

Jessica worried about everything, from being late to losing her lunch money. So she was particularly worried when her teacher announced that Friday would be the 100th day of school and that each student would have to bring in a collection of 100 things to be displayed in the hall. Bobby brought peanuts and Sharon brought paperclips, but even on the morning of the 100th day Jessica didn’t know what to bring. Luckily, Jessica’s family came to the rescue and Jessica’s collection was memorable and very special.

The third-person narrative of the text cleverly incorporates numbers and counting without being didactic or boring. The colorful loose line drawings support these mathematical ideas by showing each child’s collection in sets show more of tens, twenties, etc. Although the illustrations can be busy at times, the pages with objects to count have simple backgrounds, making it easy to distinguish each object. I also like that the illustrations are large enough to share with a group.

Full Review at Picture-Book-a-Day: http://picturebookaday.blogspot.com/2012/07/book-183-100th-day-worries-by-marger... show less

"100th Day Worries" is a short illustrated story about a young girl named Jessica who is assigned to bring in 100 items to class for 100th Day. Jessica becomes stressed out seeing the other kid's collections and cannot think of one of her own. Thankfully, her family steps in and helps her create a collection unique and full of love.

Genre: Realistic Fiction

Genre Critique: This story is an exceptional example of realistic fiction because it really plays into experiences that children get at a young age in elementary schools across the nation. Counting up to the 100th day of school is a very commonly practiced event that elementary teacher's do and the way that Jessica worries and tries to find a solution to her problem is very relatable show more for many students.

Character Critique: I thought that Jessica was definitely the protagonist and a very good character to follow because she was definitely someone that students could find relate to. The way that the author allowed her to resolve the conflict by the end of the story carried well with the plot and really made her dynamic characteristics stand out. show less

Genre: Contemporary Realistic Fiction
Media: Pen and Ink
Appropriate Age: Primary
Summary:
The young girl Jessica is always worrying, and one day her teacher asks her to bring in a collection of 100 things for the hundredth day of school. This worries Jessica more than ever, and she is unable to think of something to bring. The day her homework is due, her family tries to help, giving her groups of 10. She is given 9 groups of 10: not enough. In the end, she finds a letter from her mom in her lunchbox with 10 Xs (hugs). When she presents everything to her teacher in groups of ten, he is most impressed: Jessica had brought 100 signs of love.

In this story 1st grader Jessica is a worrier. She worries about everything. When she is given an assignment to bring in 100 small things for the 100th day of school, she really begins to worry. She considers several different items to bring in but find a problem with all of them. After watching the great ideas the other student's brought in she began to worry even more. On the 99th night of school, she still has not chosen the items to take in. On the 100th day morning, with the help of her family, she brings in 10 set of 10 different items from around the house.

I enjoyed reading this story, I can relate to the stress Jessica feels in trying to find the perfect items to bring to school. I look forward to using this book in my show more classroom.

This book is a concept book for several reasons. One, this book is a perfect book to read on or around the 100th day of school. In the classroom, I would use this book to help the students with ideas of what to bring in for the 100th day of school. Another reason, when reading the book the student's are being shown different ways to make 100. Such as, 10 piles of 10 paperclips. show less

Jessica was a student who often worried. She worried about the basic day-to-day things so when she was asked to bring in one hundred of "something" for the hundredth day of school she worried. As the days got closer and closer her peers began bringing in objects, but she couldn't quite think of what it was exactly that she would bring. The day before her supplies were due she worried so much that her family began to bring her objects in groups of ten. The next day she brought nine groups of ten objects to school realizing that she only had 90 total things. But in no time she realized her mom wrote her a note with ten "x"s a.k.a. kisses and so she finished off her collection with the last group of ten. Her teacher and classmates were show more amazed by her creativity and Jessica was no longer worried. This is a realistic fiction children's book. show less