School Library Journal (Tue Jul 01 00:00:00 CDT 2014)

PreS-Gr 1 When Amanda heads out for the first day of Zoo School, she sees that everyone has a best friend except her, so she quickly fixes that. "Hey, Gator! Let's walk to school together! We can be Best Friends!" Poor Alfred, who doesn't even want to go to school, is no match for the enthusiastic panda. He spends the day unhappily doing all the things that she wants (sitting in the front row, sharing his cookie at lunch, playing tag) until he finally snaps when she insists they walk home together. "I am NOT walking home with you. You are NOT my best friend. My name is NOT Gator. It's Alfred!" Predictably, they both go home feeling bad. The next day, Amanda is quiet and Alfred is lonely and guilty. Pushed to the edge by worry when she spends recess hanging upside down, Alfred makes amends. Then Amanda calls him by his given name, and they play happily ever after. The text is the perfect combination of narration and word balloons that lets the story be seen from both sides. Dillard successfully mixes traditional spreads with comic book-style panels. Often the characters or their thoughts slip a little outside the frames, adding an extra dimension to the art. The pictures are crisp and clearly show a wide range of emotions. Pair this title with Peter Brown's You Will Be My Friend! (Little, Brown 2011) for an aggressively friendly storytime. Catherine Callegari, Gay-Kimball Library, Troy, NH

Horn Book (Sat Aug 01 00:00:00 CDT 2015)

On the first day of Zoo School, outgoing (and pushy) Amanda the panda decides that she and anxious Alfred the alligator will be best friends. Hurt feelings ensue when they don't see eye-to-eye: e.g., Amanda likes front-row seats, while Alfred likes to be "invisible." The comics-style format--word balloons and color-saturated pictures in frames--adds interest to a commonplace beginning-school story.

ALA Booklist

This story captures all the jitters that typically come with a new school year and a new set of social interactions. Amanda the Panda, confident and self-assured, and Alfred the Alligator, nervous and awkward, arrive in Mrs. Waddle's classroom on their first day of Zoo School. When Amanda realizes that everyone in their class has already paired off into best-friend duos, she decides that she and Alfred are perfectly matched for companionship, thwarting all of his attempts to remain invisible. She insists that they sit up front in class, targets him for tag at recess, and loudly calls him a catchy new nickname. Her effervescent is immutable, and slightly sullen Alfred lashes out in the face of all of her unwanted devotion. Told in a comic-book-style series of speech bubbles and storyboard panes, Dillard's narrative imparts the important moral of not taking oneself so seriously and proves that opposites sometimes really do attract.

Publishers Weekly (Fri Oct 06 00:00:00 CDT 2023)

Dillard makes excellent use of comic-book elements like sequential panels and speech balloons in this witty, well-observed story. Amanda, an exuberant panda, is delighted to be at school, but Alfred, the introverted alligator, who she decides is her new best friend, is less eager. -Why do I have to go to school?- he wonders. -I know so much already.- Amanda-s ebullience only grates on Alfred-s nerves, resulting in a blowup that gets resolved the next day. Dillard keeps the story-s messaging subtle, and her crisp images and candid storytelling capture the give-and-take inherent in many early friendships. Ages 5-7. Agent: Lori Nowicki, Painted Words. (Aug.)