Episode 67 - First Day Jitters (Badgers Are Go! and School's First Day of School)

We're taking a slightly different tack this September, with an episode about the jittery feelings of two non-human characters starting school! Lulu Whifferton-Rear was minding her little badgery business when she received a very special letter summoning her to Major Rumpington's Academy of Badgering in Badgers Are Go!, our chapter book by Susannah Lloyd and Nici Gregory. Lulu is soon let in on a huge secret: not all humans are human. Some of them are Badger Operated Persons, or BOPs for short. After all, how else would those humans get anything done? The arc of human history bends toward progress, and it is the badgers who are doing the bending. Full of heart and a laugh a minute, this is a brilliant Wallace and Gromit esque early chapter book.

Our picture book is a much gentler, quieter book. School's First Day of School, by Adam Rex and Christian Robinson does exactly what it says on the tin. We follow the life of Frederick Douglass Elementary School, from the pouring of its concrete foundations, to the first time the children stream in, climbing all over its jungle gym, learning about shapes and making pictures to pin to the walls. The experience of this anxious young building is lovingly mediated by Janitor, who spent all summer preparing the school for its purpose, and comes and picks it up at 3.30 in the afternoon, after the children have come home. We love a Christian Robinson. We love a personified building. Get it for the nervous school starter in your life.

The schools book conference Matt talks about is called Inspire Reads. It isn't open to members of the public but if your kid goes to school in or around Derby, perhaps they'll take part!

Nina mentions another favourite illustration in a chapter book - she's talking about the missing tomato in Bicycling to the Moon by Timo Parvela, as reviewed in episode 26.

We refer to a different Christian Robinson book, Another, as reviewed in episode 63.

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What A Wonderful Day is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License by Shane Ivers of silvermansound.com