While Rose (Birthday Zoo) cheerily ticks off the touchstones and tokens of kindergarten life to the tune of a Christmas classic, ("On the sixth day of kindergarten, my teacher gave to me/ six fish for feeding,/ five gold stars!/ Four puzzle shapes,/ three pencils,/ two pictures books,/ and the whole alphabet from A to Z"), Armstrong-Ellis's (Prudy's Problem: And How She Solved It) irreverent spreads tell quite another story. She creates a rather skittish blonde girl, clinging to her stuffed gorilla, as the story's narrator. The artist conveys the heroine's steadily building confidence when, at a Fire Safety assembly on the fifth day, she takes the stage, earning five gold stars. In another humorous detail, her teacher wears a dress trimmed in a flame-like motif. The classroom is stocked with cut-ups as well, among them an extremely timid girl with a death grip on her teacher's skirt and a boy who finds the contents of one nostril endlessly fascinating. Together, they innocently wreak havoc, releasing a swarm of bees at a nature museum, aiding in the escape of the classroom hamsters' many offspring, etc. The 12th day culminates with a spontaneously generated "We Love School" banner, and a hug for a now-beloved teacher; classroom leaders with a sense of humor will enjoy sharing this book at circle time. Kids, however, will get a hoot out of spotting the new and running jokes on each spread (one horse-obsessed girl evolves into an accomplished equine portraitist by book's end), and watching the teacher's best-laid lesson plans deteriorate into comic melees. Ages 4-8. (Aug.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

PreS-Gr. 1. Taking off from The Twelve Days of Christmas, this uproarious picture book uses a cumulative counting verse to celebrate a kindergarten classroom, with a teacher and eight pupils busy with all kinds of learning fun--from chanting the alphabet and recognizing shapes and colors, to stringing beads and feeding pets. The clear, lively double-page spreads show groups as well as individual pupils. Kids will enjoy following the characters and seeing the roles they play: the self-absorbed girl in a frilly dress, always looking at herself; the rambunctious boy who makes trouble; the shy child clutching the teacher's skirt. What's great is that the characters' aren't stuck in their roles, and kids who look closely at the pictures, while taking pleasure in the chanting verse, will find a story about learning, messing up a lot, and sometimes changing. --Hazel Rochman Copyright 2003 Booklist

PreS-Gr 1-Set to the familiar tune of "The Twelve Days of Christmas," this poem enumerates a child's experiences upon entering kindergarten. The youngster begins, "On the first day of kindergarten, my teacher gave to me the whole alphabet from A to Z!" and proceeds through 5 gold stars and ends with 12 eggs for hatching. The word "kindergarten" is unavoidably awkward and practice may be in order to perfect your delivery if you choose to sing it. The real charm of this book lies in the hilarious illustrations that chronicle the harried teacher's adventures with her new students. On art day, a boy spills a big jar of green paint, one kid picks his nose in every scene, bees get loose from a display on a field trip, and on and on. The style is reminiscent of Babette Cole's work not only in the drawings but also in the sense of humor. This one will pair nicely with Joseph Slate's excellent contributions to this subject including, Miss Bindergarten Gets Ready for Kindergarten (Puffin, 2001).-Linda M. Kenton, San Rafael Public Library, CA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

On each of the first twelve days of kindergarten, the narrator's teacher gives her something that enhances her classroom experience. The cheerful text, mimicking the Christmas classic, is subverted by the hilarious illustrations: the classroom, featuring a boy who picks his nose on each of the twelve days, is in total disarray--a fact to which the busy narrator is oblivious. From HORN BOOK Spring 2004, (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

A delightful counting book modeled on the Twelve Days of Christmas. Rose presents the first 12 days of kindergarten through the activities of one small girl. She reads books, draws pictures, strings beads, makes puzzles, plants seeds, feeds the fish, and sorts and stacks objects. The illustrations marvelously depict the whole range of kindergarten emotions--from shy and quiet to scared or thrilled, as well as the different kinds of kids--the clumsy one, the nose-picker, the one who won't share, and the budding artist. The observant reader will pick up clever details hidden within the illustrations--the children's drawings are reproductions of famous paintings, the overfed fish gradually grow too large for the aquarium, and each turn of the page is a new step in the romance between the class hamsters. As the days go by, the poor kindergarten teacher looks more and more frazzled, while the kids make new friends, explore new things, and end up loving school. A great start. (Picture book. 4-8) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.