Never Spit on Your Shoes

by Cazet, Denys. (Orchard, 1990 ISBN 0-531-08447-7) Picture Book. Grades 2+.
This book was reviewed by Carol Otis Hurst in Teaching K-8 Magazine.

Review

Arnie has just returned home from the first day of first grade and he's got lots to tell. His sympathetic mother offers the glass of milk and is ready to hear all about it. That's fortunate because we get to see what happened in a first grade classroom from a child's point of view. Arnie is sincere and accepting about his first day. He sees little humor in it. We're the ones who see the humor and much of it is derived from the balloon conversations within the illustrations.

Although young readers can and will find many events in the book that relate to their own experiences, this book's most appreciative audience will probably be adults or older children for whom this will be nostalgic of their own early school experiences. For teachers who have ever taught the early primary grades, this book is the particular kind of hilarity that comes from many shared and similar experiences.

Related Areas of Carol Hurst's Children's Literature Site

• Books Set in Schools. Featured Subject with activities, related books and links.