School Library Journal Review
K-Gr 2-School has just been built and he is looking good. However, now that it's the first day of school, he's a bit nervous. What's going to happen? Things have been pretty quiet-just him and the janitor. Now everything is changing. Will the children like him? This is an amusing look at those first-day jitters. Adam Rex deftly captures the feelings of that momentous day in his picture book and expresses them from a wonderfully unique viewpoint. School's feelings about himself are easily affected by the students' opinions, much as a child's might be. Yet as the students learn and grow, so does school. Christian Robinson's quirky illustrations perfectly suit and expand this story and are gently animated for this production. Soft and bouncy background music adds to the multi-person narration. VERDICT This DVD will strike a chord with anyone facing a new experience. Its gentle humor and warm tones are reassuring and smile-tugging. Teachers will enjoy using it to lead discussion on adapting to new situations and the concept of personification.-Teresa Bateman, Brigadoon Elementary School, Federal Way, WA © Copyright 2017. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
Every so often, a book comes along with a premise so perfect, it's hard to believe it hasn't been done before; this is one of those books. As a new school year begins, it isn't just the students who have trepidations: the building doesn't quite know what to expect either, and overheard comments such as "I don't like school" aren't helping. "Maybe it doesn't like you either," thinks the school in response. But even amid lunchtime spills and an embarrassing fire drill "accident," the school comes to understand that facilitating the noisy, messy activities of the school day are quite literally what he was made to do. Robinson (Last Stop on Market Street) gives the school just a hint of visual personification in his flattened, paint-and-collage artwork, as Rex (Moonday) deftly juggles well-placed jokes and keen insights into feeling comfortable in one's own skin-or bricks, as the case may be. Ages 4-8. Agent: Steven Malk, Writers House. (June) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
