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Summer holidays are drawing to a close; in a matter of days, kids will head back to school. Some will be carrying a backpack of school supplies for the first time, as they start kindergarten or Grade 1. Below are two books by Montreal-based author-illustrators to help ease their transition. Both are for ages four to eight.
Mr. SWritten and illustrated by Monica ArnaldoKatherine Tegen Books
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Humour — albeit the far-fetched kind — is at the heart of this rollicking tale about starting school. The story begins on the title-page spread, where a bespectacled man is in the process of writing his name on a blackboard only to see, through the classroom window, his car get crushed by a falling tree during a rainstorm. He hightails it outside and by the time children gather in Room 2B for their first day of school, no teacher can be found. Or can one?
The kids eventually decide the name on the board — Mr. S — must apply to the ham sandwich on the teacher’s desk. Assuming Mr. Sandwich is the teacher in question, the kids get to work and move through the day’s lessons: practising their ABCs, painting sandwich pictures in art class, relaxing during storytime and singing their hearts out in music class.
All the while, another story is unfolding outside the window — a much more dramatic one, involving the bespectacled man and his car. When he finally makes his way back into the classroom, drenched and wearing a jacket that was “smoking as though it had recently been on fire” (read: smoking jacket!), he introduces himself as Mr. Spencer, the school principal, and the sandwich as their teacher, Mr. S. It’s not the only twist in Monica Arnaldo’s double-barrelled storytelling, bound to amuse both young listeners and those reading the book aloud.
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HopscotchWritten and illustrated by Marie-Louise GayGroundwood Books
Ophelia is a preschooler with a vivid imagination and a desire to befriend the neighbour’s dog. Instead, she’s told the family is moving — again! This time to a small cabin on the edge of town where Ophelia “sees giant rabbits hopping in the moonlight” and hears witches cackling in the trees. The witches, it turns out, are really noisy crows.
When her mother walks her into town for her first day of school, a whole new set of worries enfolds the little girl. The teacher greets her “in a soft singing voice,” but Ophelia can’t understand a word she says and thinks her ears are broken; it turns out everyone in class is speaking French. The other children stare at her, so she hides, but music and art sessions bring her out of hiding. At recess she draws an extra-long magic hopscotch; joined by all her classmates, Ophelia’s wish for friends appears to be coming true.
Marie-Louise Gay’s distinctive artwork is a perfect complement to this story about overcoming fears with dreams and creativity.
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