Ollie's School Day

PreS-K–Madcap cartoons embellish a series of questions about a young boy’s day at school. Will Ollie’s breakfast be a bowl of bubblegum, fishy-flavor ice cream, a sour pickle, or a bowl of cereal? From waking to story time, riding the bus and coming home, children are offered three amusing options at each juncture, followed by sedate reality. Calmenson cleverly ends the day with Ollie being met at home by “someone who loves him,” accommodating an audience’s variety of after-school greeters. Carter’s watercolors play with the text and add hilarity with wee portraits like a fish wearing boots and a squirrel lounging under a beach umbrella. This gentle tutorial in school behavior effectively employs call-and-response to engage listeners.-Gay Lynn Van Vleck, Henrico County Library, Glen Allen, VA