Pa Lia's First Day: A Jackson Friends Book - Hardcover

Edwards, Michelle

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 015201974X ISBN 13: 9780152019747

Publisher: Harcourt Childrens Books, 1999

Synopsis

Between getting her only possible friend in trouble and not finding her classroom on time, Pa Lia is having a terrible first day and must find a way to turn things around . . . and quickly.

About this title

About the Author

MICHELLE EDWARDS is the author-illustrator of Chicken Man, winner of the National Jewish Book Award, several other acclaimed picture books, and the Jackson Friends series, which includes Pa Lia's First Day, a Parent's Guide to Children's Media Award winner, Zero Grandparents, and The Talent Show. She lives with her family in Iowa City.

Reviews

This first book in the Jackson Friends chapter book series introduces Pa Lia Vang on her first day of second grade as a new girl at Jackson Magnet School. In plain language, Edwards (Chicken Man) describes the universal experience of the start of classes: "Jackson Magnet smelled just like the first day of school. Pa Lia could smell new shoes, new pencils, and clean floors." Any student who has suffered from school jitters will identify with Pa Lia's nervous dawdling while her brother walks her to school and recognize the feeling of a mouth "stuffed with cotton" and a stomach "filled with a thousand fluttering butterflies." She soon meets an amiable classmate, Calliope, who guides her to their room, and Calliope's jealous best friend, Howie ("Howardina Geraldina Paulina Maxina Gardenia Smith"), who initially refuses to speak to her but whom Pa Lia wins over by day's end. The requisite standbys are all here (Matthew "Stinky" Stern farts in class and calls the bespectacled Pa Lia "four-eyes"), but black-and-white illustrations that mix reality with Pa Lia's wishful and fearful thoughts add some spunk. Ages 6-9. (Sept.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

A simple story about starting school and making friends. Pa Lia Vang's treacherous first day at Jackson Magnet School begins badly; she not only has difficulty finding her classroom, but Matthew ``Stinky'' Stern, the ``enemy of the second grade,'' happens to be in her class. The teacher, Mrs. Fennessey, doesn't appreciate Pa Lia's giggling in class, while the humorous notes Pa Lia passes to Howardina and Calliope serve to get all three of them in trouble. In the end, it's Pa Lia's act of publicly owning up to her mistake and getting the others off the hook that secures new friendships and acceptance among her peers. Edwards's winning black-and-white illustrations capture the feelings of desolation, fear, embarrassment, and joy associated with first days, while the prose, composed with emerging readers in mind, yields up events briskly and concisely. (Fiction. 6-9) -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Grade 1-3-Pa Lia Vang's first day of second grade starts out a little rough. Her new school, Jackson Magnet, is huge and intimidating and her brother leaves her to find her classroom on her own. When she's rescued by a classmate, Calliope, the day starts to improve, but Howie (short for Howardina), Calliope's best friend, wants nothing to do with the new girl. And then Pa Lia gets all three of them in trouble by passing notes in class. Though she tells their teacher that the incident was her fault, she is convinced that Howie and Calliope will never like her now. But they think that the new girl was brave to tell the truth, and she has two friends before she knows it. Pa Lia is believably insecure and frightened, and Howie is wonderfully skeptical of inviting the unknown newcomer into her safely established friendship with Calliope. The seesaw of events, going from good to bad to good again, is realistic of any first-day experience. The simple text, large print, short chapters, and illustrations will appeal to beginning chapter-book readers. Both small and full-page illustrations show the multicultural diversity of Jackson Magnet; the three girls are definite individuals, each very different, yet equally appealing. A good start to a new series.
Linda Bindner, formerly at Athens Clarke County Library, GA
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Harcourt Childrens Books
• Publication date: 1999
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 015201974X
• ISBN 13: 9780152019747
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 50