ALA Booklist (Wed Nov 01 00:00:00 CST 1995)

for reading aloud. The daily events of school provide lots of fun in these bouncing rhymes and brightly colored cartoon pictures. There are verses about running for the bus in the morning, gossiping on the jungle gym, swapping and reswapping lunch, doing homework, and counting every single word for that book report (This was a very, very, very nice book ). Most of the situations are social, though there are some dreamers lost in a book or walking on the moon or hooked up to the Nintendo. The funniest piece, about the kindergarten show, is a medley of fractured fairy tales (Little Red Riding Hood sat on Miss Muffet ). Kids might want to read aloud the comic monologues, such as Math My Way, and perhaps stage the group scenarios, such as Pledge, where the solemnity is undercut by the inevitable classroom farce. (Reviewed November 15, 1995)

Horn Book (Sat Apr 01 00:00:00 CST 1995)

Everyday school activities, from lunch in the cafeteria to dealing with homework to the trip on the school bus, are captured in simple, humorous rhyme. Cartoonlike illustrations of a multiethnic group of students complement the poems.

School Library Journal

Gr 2-4--A frisky collection of 24 childlike perceptions of the zanier happenings during a school day. The poems' appeal relies on irreverent topics, robust action, sing-song rhythms, and rhyming couplets. The bright, expressive cartoonstyle illustrations highlight the rollicking nature of most of the selections. Kids will greet them with enthusiasm, but there needs to be more to poetry than rhyming words. Some of the verses do challenge young minds. The child in Who Needs School?'' has art, spelling, and calculator skills thanks to her computer, but realizes,...Just don't unplug me and I'll be fine.'' Moonwalker'' features the joyous, imaginative characters a youngster creates on her way home.Outside/Inside'' contrasts the vibrant goings-on outside the classroom to the humdrum inside. The word-counting antics of the struggling boy in ``Book Report'' leave a poignant message. In all, good for a quick, fun fix on a down day.--Ronald Jobe, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada