On My Way to School

PreS-Gr 1— This third offering featuring Livi the imaginative dawdler picks up where On My Way to the Bath (Walker, 2012 ) left off. This time the child's mother is struggling to get her out of bed, dressed, fed, and packed up before the school bus comes, but Livi has other ideas. Searching for clean underwear becomes a pirate's hunt for treasure, with her toy Froggolini as first mate. Carrying her backpack turns Livi into a sherpa leading explorers to the top of Mount Everest. Even walking from the bus to her classroom finds her sashaying like a movie star while her adoring fans ask for her autograph. Unfortunately, this time Livi's dawdling feels more forced and less endearing than in her previous books. Her reluctance to go to school veers toward sounding bratty: "School is for people who need to learn stuff. I have gone to school a hundred times, and I already know lots of stuff. I will stay in bed." On a brighter note, the adult voices still amuse, particularly when bus driver shouts, "Sit down back there!" after Livi jumps up from her seat pretending to be a lemur. As with the other titles, the digital illustrations are spot-on, full of vivid color, expressiveness, and humor. Readers who found Livi's earlier adventures hilarious will most likely enjoy her latest stalling tactics, even if the formula has begun to grow a bit tired.—Teri Markson, Los Angeles Public Library