ALA Booklist (Sun Sep 01 00:00:00 CDT 2002)

Welcome back to Mrs. Madoff's class, where the same cheerful, multicultural group of children celebrated Career Day (2000), Show & Tell Day (1997), Valentine's Day (2001), among others. By putting a penny in a jar each school day and marking each tenth day with a child's special collection (10 balloons, 20 Matchbox cars, 30 leaves), the class learns to count to 100, bit by bit. The children celebrate Day 100 by bringing in 100 pretzels, raisins, chocolate chips, almonds, and so on to make a big bowl of treats to share with the rest of the school. The tone is definitely low-key, but the simple text and the colorful paintings of familiar classroom and family activities will keep little ones involved. Teachers will be happy to add this to the short list of picture books that features stories about the one hundredth day of school.

Horn Book (Tue Apr 01 00:00:00 CST 2003)

Each day, a different student puts a penny in a class jar, and after every ten days a classmate brings in a collection of items (ten balloons, twenty matchbox cars, etc.) to celebrate. The class sends their pennies to someone in need. Clear, colorful artwork and a simple story provide a gentle slice of school life, with counting, a long-term project, and sharing on many levels.

Kirkus Reviews

Celebrating the 100th day of school has become a ritual in the US, and Rockwell ( Becoming Butterflies , p. 107, etc.) gives it a somewhat flat, if good-hearted tribute in this addition to the short list of titles on the subject. Mrs. Madoff's class starts the countdown by dropping a penny in a jar for each day of school. At each interval of 10, each child brings in a little something special: 10 balloons, 20 matchbox cars, 30 leaves, 70 sunflower seeds, 80 Popsicle sticks. Finally, they reach the 100 mark, everyone brings in 100 yummy things, and they decide to send their $1 to aid hurricane victims; who is going to quibble with that thoughtful gesture? But there are other problems afoot, mostly concerned with the flat tone of the art and story. The illustrations are sweet but bland, and totally lacking in personality. The text is blander still. The narrator brings in 10 balloons to mark Day 10: "Then Sam and I took them to the principal's office. She said, Thank you! These are beautiful!' " It's not easy to make something lighter than air feel so wooden, but perhaps it comes from trying to make a point. (Picture book. 3-6)

School Library Journal

K-Gr 1-Celebrating this milestone has become popular in the last few years, and Rockwell turns her attention to this event. On the first day of school, Jessica's teacher gives her a penny to drop in the jar on her desk. A different student brings in a coin each day to add to it. Counting by 10 is reinforced whenever the jar reaches a number divisible by 10, since the student bringing in the penny that day also gets to bring in a special collection of items celebrating that number. Rockwell's realistically rendered illustrations are drenched in color, creating a warm and inviting classroom and familial spaces. The book ends with the children seated at circle time, their teacher holding up a newspaper with the headline "Hurricane Hannah Hits" and a comment that all the local schools are sending their jars of 100 pennies to a town damaged by the storm. While the story will be well received in primary classrooms and by parents looking to reinforce the math concepts, the sudden introduction of the hurricane at the end of the book is a bit jarring. That quibble aside, this title can hold its own against Margery Cuyler's 100th Day Worries (S & S, 2000) and Joseph Slate's Miss Bindergarten Celebrates the 100th Day of Kindergarten (Dutton, 1998).-Lisa Gangemi Kropp, Middle Country Public Library, Centereach, NY Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.