I Know What You Do When I Go to School

A child imagines all of the great adventures that his mother and younger brother have while he is at school

K-Gr 3-As Howie gets ready for school, he fantasizes about all the fun his mother and younger brother will have while he's away: among other things, they will dig for dinosaur bones and fill the house with popcorn. When the boy convinces himself that he'd rather stay home than go to school, Mom takes over the narrative. She doesn't negate his fantasy; rather, she works with it, explaining that clean-up time will follow all the excitement and that Wally will be so tired that she'll make him take a "...great big boring, long and fat all-afternoon nap." The last page shows Howie on his way to school. Cannon's text is real and immediate. The narrator has a lively imagination that will get readers laughing. The full-page illustrations focus primarily on Wally and Mom's at-home activities. The loud, expressive watercolors expand the humor. Using distorted views, a few straight lines, and lots of curlicues, the artist takes readers on a wild, free-flowing adventure. The hand-lettered text adds to the looseness of the book. An accessible, fresh, and thoroughly pleasurable offering.-Martha Topol, Traverse Area District Library, Traverse City, MI

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