How Not to Start Third Grade

July 1, 2007
Gr 2-3-This very slight book should be called "How to Turn off Newly Independent Readers". Longer paragraphs with fewer illustrations look great on the surface in this "Step 4" reader. Unfortunately, the story, in which Will describes his first day of third grade, is completely unbelievable. His brother is starting kindergarten. When the boys arrive at school, Steve is off and runningtearing around the halls, banging on the lockers, and creating total chaos. Will tries to ignore him but when the family dog finds his way into the school cafeteria, everybody and everything goes wild. While all of this is silly, it is not realistic. No school lets new students (kindergarteners, no less) roam the halls on their own or allows a food fight in the cafeteria. The illustrations are just as wild as the story with little to offer except for a pretty good description of what should not happen. This title fails to be funny; it's simply frenzied."Susan Lissim, Dwight School, New York City"

Copyright 2007 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 1, 2007
Back-to-School Lesson #6: Never think that starting school with your little brother could be anything but a total and complete disaster, says Will, who is looking forward to his first day of third grade. Will is also dreading his rowdy little brother Steves first day of kindergarten at the same school. As expected, Steves high jinks cause one upset after another, culminating in an all-school food fight. Divided into brief chapters, this Step into Reading title is well tuned to a newly confident readers abilities. Simply constructed sentences and brisk dialoguemake use oflively vocabulary and plenty of active verbs. Large color illustrations extend themayhem with cartoonish characters, exaggerated expressions, and lots of activity. .(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2007, American Library Association.)

January 1, 2008
In this story for independent readers, Will (How Not to Babysit Your Brother) is excited to start third grade. But with a disaster-prone brother entering kindergarten, expect chaos. Will's helpful tips ("#2: Never let anyone see you in the hall with your little brother") and the exaggerated cartoon illustrations set the tone for this over-the-top story.

(Copyright 2008 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)