Kirkus Review

This raucous read-along brings school spirit to every moment of the school day.

A diverse group of young students enter the school building, some looking excited, some worried or sad. The book’s text starts up a chant: “We say BOOK, you say BAG… / Book! Bag! Book! Bag!” The narrative continues with chants about familiar school sights, from nametags to the lunch line, “Alpha! Bet!” to class pet. These call-and-response chants alternate with rhyming couplets about school behavior: “Taking turns and standing tall. / That’s the spirit. Let’s PLAY BALL.” Students find seats, have circle time, play, share, learn together, and create a sense of school spirit as they go through their day from drop-off to pickup. The irresistible rhythm of this chant will have a participatory storytime up and running quickly. The type highlights the words to be chanted, so young readers can see the participatory lines as they arise. The illustrations use bright streaks of color and generous white space to match the energy of the text, and the depiction of diverse humans is refreshing in this season’s animal-heavy list of school stories. Character details offer opportunities for children to notice and guess what some of the children may be feeling.

This celebration of school spirit is sure to get the energy flowing.

School Library Journal

PreS-K–There is no shortage of picture books about the first day of school, but Fleming’s is a cheerful and fun entry in the genre. Using the creative structure of a cheer (“We say ALPHA, you say BET / ALPHA! BET! ALPHA! BET!”), this read-aloud will energize students new to the school experience. Some facets of the classroom setting, such as carpet time and toy sharing, imply a preschool audience, while the cafeteria and large varsity-style letters spelling “ELEMENTARY SCHOOL’’ seem directed at an older audience. Overall, the children’s faces are happy, though a few of them indicate first-day jitters, with an underlying layer that may make this perfect for kindergarteners. Phrases such as “come on over,” “taking turns,” “make room,” and “sit with us,” prepare children for a collaborative classroom experience. Cummins’s illustrations are predominantly rendered in primary colors.

VERDICT An amiable, caring look at those early days, sure to help newbies make the transition.

Publishers Weekly

In this rousing picture book, an unnamed collective “we” begins a call and response, asking the reader to join in: “We say BOOK, you say BAG.” Beneath, a handwritten font spells out “BOOK! BAG! BOOK! BAG!” Emphasizing common school elements that children might encounter—desks, carpet squares, class pets, lunch lines—Fleming’s chant is interspersed with energetic rhymes that encourage kids to share, take turns, and include others as the class proceeds through a day of learning, interspersed with lunch, recess, a rally, and mural painting. Utilizing a soft palette of mostly primary colors, welcoming art by Cummins features dot-eyed humans of varying abilities, religions, and skin tones rendered in gouache, colored pencil, and brush marker, and finished digitally. A simple, spirited readaloud that encourages youngsters to find excitement and community in school. Ages 4–8.