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The Perfect School Picture: A Picture Book
It’s picture day, and the boy at the center of this charming story wants to make sure his picture is perfect. It seems as though everything’s going wrong for him—he has bedhead, a stained shirt, and a big scowl on his face. But when he goes up for his picture, he thinks about his terrible appearance, and he smiles—because he secretly wants his picture to be the worst ever taken! But just as he smiles, the photo is snapped, and his plan is ruined when he takes a totally adorable picture. Perfectly paired with the larger-than-life silliness of Dan Santat’s illustrations, this is a sweet and funny picture book about a classic school moment.
32 pages, Paperback
Published July 2, 2019
About the author
Deborah Diesen
86 books127 followersDeborah Diesen is the author of The Pout-Pout Fish, a rhyming children's picture book illustrated by Dan Hanna and published by Farrar Straus Giroux. Her book The Barefooted, Bad-Tempered Baby Brigade was published by Tricycle Press. She lives in Michigan. Visit her web site at www.deborahdiesen.com and her blog at jumpingthecandlestick.blogspot.com
http://us.macmillan.com/author/debora...
http://us.macmillan.com/author/debora...
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 192 reviews
October 14, 2019
Really funny, with an ending I didn't expect! Kids are gonna laugh! 😄
July 14, 2022
After all his careful preparations for the school picture, his photo still comes out good. Large, appealing illustrations of a boy trying to sabotage his school photo.
December 18, 2016
Loved it! Perfection is in the eye of the beholder ... a real lesson on assuming things and point of view.
September 6, 2018
Per my second graders: I thought it was okay but I thought it would be funnier. I thought it was good because the illustrations were creative.
June 8, 2017
Fun read
This is a cute book about the pain of picture day. I feel him! My pictures always came out weird too!
This is a cute book about the pain of picture day. I feel him! My pictures always came out weird too!
July 6, 2017
His idea of a perfect picture day isn't so perfect after all. At least that's what he thinks.
August 7, 2017
I love this book because I love photography like anything <3
And the book is about how this kid prepares himself to get his best picture taken for the year book. That day is called the Picture Day & he has to get the snap perfectly..
I can totally relate to it, as I love being in front of the camera & I love thinking about various poses & expressions before getting clicked. Its fun..looking best for a picture & getting it preserved forever as a memory ^_^
Here... find the book in this link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M88Hu...
And the book is about how this kid prepares himself to get his best picture taken for the year book. That day is called the Picture Day & he has to get the snap perfectly..
I can totally relate to it, as I love being in front of the camera & I love thinking about various poses & expressions before getting clicked. Its fun..looking best for a picture & getting it preserved forever as a memory ^_^
Here... find the book in this link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M88Hu...
February 4, 2022
I read this one to the students this week (picture day :) on Friday) and it has received mixed reviews. The illustrations are great, the premise is funny, but it's like the joke where you mess up the punchline and no one gets it. It just fell a little flat. Wah wah....
November 15, 2015
You put Dan Santat in anything and it's guaranteed I'm going to love it. Deborah Diesen did a great job on this wonderful story, and Dan's illustrations made it all super fantastic! I loved it!
September 4, 2013
Picture Day is a day when you want to take the perfect picture. That doesn’t come easily! In fact, the boy in this book has been planning his Picture Day for months. But nothing seems to be going well at all. First is the bedhead hair that makes his brother laugh, then his favorite shirt is stained and smelly, and that all leads into the incident with the syrup at breakfast. The day continues this way and when he gets to school he starts to get into trouble with how he is acting. He won’t practice his smile, choosing instead to stick out his tongue. He sends paint flying during art. He doesn’t get a comb to fix his hair. In the end though, it all comes off just like he planned, or does it?
Diesen has a wonderful kid-like sense of humor that is very evident throughout this book. Her timing is great, the story will have everyone laughing. Readers will figure out what is really happening in this book just as the author decides to reveal it. Then the entire book still makes sense, but in a different way. It makes for a great read.
Add in Santat’s vibrant and equally funny art and you have a real winner. Santat captures the funniest moments in the text with great style. The image of the syrup incident is my favorite but I also love the picture taken at the end of the book.
Funny, pure silliness and just right for the start of a new school year. Try this one out with older elementary students since they will love the humor too. Appropriate for ages 5-8.
Diesen has a wonderful kid-like sense of humor that is very evident throughout this book. Her timing is great, the story will have everyone laughing. Readers will figure out what is really happening in this book just as the author decides to reveal it. Then the entire book still makes sense, but in a different way. It makes for a great read.
Add in Santat’s vibrant and equally funny art and you have a real winner. Santat captures the funniest moments in the text with great style. The image of the syrup incident is my favorite but I also love the picture taken at the end of the book.
Funny, pure silliness and just right for the start of a new school year. Try this one out with older elementary students since they will love the humor too. Appropriate for ages 5-8.
August 29, 2018
Ugh! Picture day. As a parent of a strong-willed child, picture days were stressful. Mostly because I wanted a good picture of my son. My pride and joy. Although, he often had a different idea of a good picture. I remember one year, writing on the photo card, please remind him to smile like your mom showed you this morning. And he did! Unfortunately, he "styled" his hair in the bathroom before pictures at school and took off his button shirt that I selected for him to wear, leaving his favorite pajama shirt underneath with a stain on his shirt and most of the collar worn out due to over-washing.
I thoroughly enjoyed the reading of Deborah Diesen's Picture Day Perfection, in which she provides a student's perspective of this yearly event. The story begins with an explanation that this boy has been planning the perfect school picture for months and then includes that some days not everything goes according to plan: bedhead, unclean shirt, syrup mishap, trouble on the bus, miscommunication on the photo form, and more. You start to feel sorry for this boy. When it comes time for the picture to be taken, he comes up with a new plan for the perfect school picture.
After reading the story of this boy, I was curious of my son's perspective of his picture day. Was he doing these things on purpose to despise me or was this his perception of perfect?
I thoroughly enjoyed the reading of Deborah Diesen's Picture Day Perfection, in which she provides a student's perspective of this yearly event. The story begins with an explanation that this boy has been planning the perfect school picture for months and then includes that some days not everything goes according to plan: bedhead, unclean shirt, syrup mishap, trouble on the bus, miscommunication on the photo form, and more. You start to feel sorry for this boy. When it comes time for the picture to be taken, he comes up with a new plan for the perfect school picture.
After reading the story of this boy, I was curious of my son's perspective of his picture day. Was he doing these things on purpose to despise me or was this his perception of perfect?
August 8, 2013
Anyone who has ever had a school picture taken--and that would be all of us--is sure to remember carefully choosing the right outfit and hairstyle and practicing smiling in front of the mirror to achieve the right look. After all, school photographs, it would seem, last forever, and can come back to hunt someone even when he/she has left behind the acne and big hair that was popular decades ago. All sorts of mishaps lead the narrator to have the worse possible photograph to be taken--until he smiles. Young readers will enjoy the twist at the end and the humor throughout the book. The Adobe Photoshop illustrations snap him at his worst in his favorite soiled shirt and syrup-soaked head. SIGH! I wish I could blame some of my class photos on my own deliberate sabotage, but sadly, I thought I looked good at the time.
October 29, 2014
A boy sets out to get the perfect picture on picture day (perfectly awful that is). He has the bedhead, the dirty shirt, dirty face, boring background and is ready with a scowl on his face. Unfortunately, a smile slips through and ruins his perfect awfulness. In the end he looks forward to trying again next year.
At first this book reminded me quite a bit of Alexander and the Horrible...Day. Everything that could mess up his picture day happens. But then as you get to the end you realize this was all part of the boy's diabolical plan which makes it more fun.
The illustrations are beautiful, quirky and fun. This book is advertized for ages 4-8. Why four year olds? They most likely don't have picture days. I would recommend this for all elementary age children who would enjoy and understand the ironic picture day humor.
At first this book reminded me quite a bit of Alexander and the Horrible...Day. Everything that could mess up his picture day happens. But then as you get to the end you realize this was all part of the boy's diabolical plan which makes it more fun.
The illustrations are beautiful, quirky and fun. This book is advertized for ages 4-8. Why four year olds? They most likely don't have picture days. I would recommend this for all elementary age children who would enjoy and understand the ironic picture day humor.
December 22, 2013
It's Picture Day. We meet our main character, who has been planning this day since last year. But nothing SEEMS to be going right. He wakes up with bed head, his shirt is at the bottom of the laundry, he gets syrup all over... the list goes on and on. But then..... Well, I can't give away the whole book!!! It has a great A-ha moment with a twist!
Boys will love this young hero and kids will enjoy seeing all of the things that happen to our main character on Picture Day. Great story to add to your picture book collection!
Boys will love this young hero and kids will enjoy seeing all of the things that happen to our main character on Picture Day. Great story to add to your picture book collection!
September 22, 2020
I really like this book. I think that it would be a good book to read on picture day for your students. I like how the whole time you think he is angry and his look is getting ruined but by the end you realize that is what he wanted all along. Even though he tried to ruin it he still got a smile for the photo.
July 17, 2019
This would be great for #classroombookaday on Picture Day (of course).
Curriculum Tie-ins: picture day, assumptions, everything going wrong?, point of view, Pout Pout Fish author, After the Fall illustrator
#cbad 2018-2019 - 5th grade SCA - 10/4/18 - average rating 4.0
Curriculum Tie-ins: picture day, assumptions, everything going wrong?, point of view, Pout Pout Fish author, After the Fall illustrator
#cbad 2018-2019 - 5th grade SCA - 10/4/18 - average rating 4.0
October 13, 2013
If I only had one word to describe this book it would be hilarious. There is indeed laughter but several twists too.
My full review: http://bit.ly/16nMTPI
My full review: http://bit.ly/16nMTPI
January 26, 2022
This would be a lot of fun to read on picture day and have the students draw a self portrait can they capture a silly expression? Or write about all the trouble they went through to get ready if they went to any trouble.
February 17, 2020
Picture Day Perfection by Deborah Diesen follows the main character on a very important day of the year, picture day. From a bad case of bed head to a maple syrup disaster, things seem to go from bad to worse throughout his day. As the time to take his picture draws nearer, it seems as though he will have the worst picture ever.... exactly as he planned! However as he is reflecting about all the "horrible" things that have lead to this moment, a smile creeps across his face and the camera clicks! His picture plans were ruined by an accidental smile but he always has next year.
This realistic fiction book could be read to students of all ages depending on what instructional activities you incorporate. This book gives an excellent sample of the main character's voice and "inner monologue." Older students could use the same scenarios that the protagonist finds himself in, but insert their own voice and feelings into the story. Students could also study point of view with this book. While the story is written from the main character's point of view, students could be tasked with rewriting a page from another characters point of view (his brother, his mother, the bus driver). This book also had a plethora of adjectives and adverbs that could be used to teach students about the best use of descriptors in writing and how word choice affects tone. Overall, I feel the activities I have suggested would be best geared for students in grades 2-4.
Overall this was a wow book for me due to the vivid descriptions and illustrations. When reading it, you could almost reminisce to Elementary years and imagine how you would feel after your favorite shirt gets dirty and your mom picked the boring background on picture day. I also loved the twist at the end. The reader thinks that his picture is ruined but then he explains, manically, that was the plan all along!
This realistic fiction book could be read to students of all ages depending on what instructional activities you incorporate. This book gives an excellent sample of the main character's voice and "inner monologue." Older students could use the same scenarios that the protagonist finds himself in, but insert their own voice and feelings into the story. Students could also study point of view with this book. While the story is written from the main character's point of view, students could be tasked with rewriting a page from another characters point of view (his brother, his mother, the bus driver). This book also had a plethora of adjectives and adverbs that could be used to teach students about the best use of descriptors in writing and how word choice affects tone. Overall, I feel the activities I have suggested would be best geared for students in grades 2-4.
Overall this was a wow book for me due to the vivid descriptions and illustrations. When reading it, you could almost reminisce to Elementary years and imagine how you would feel after your favorite shirt gets dirty and your mom picked the boring background on picture day. I also loved the twist at the end. The reader thinks that his picture is ruined but then he explains, manically, that was the plan all along!
September 21, 2018
Summary:
This is a story about a young boy who's greatest desire is to take the absolute WORST picture for the yearbook, ever. He doesn't comb his hair, he wears dirty clothes, and he makes the ugliest scowl imaginable when he sits in front of the camera. However, he got so excited about how terrible his picture was going to look that he accidentally smiled,, which resulted in him taking the BEST picture he's ever taken.
Evaluation:
This book was fun and entertaining, but it didn't have much substance to work with. It lacked in complexity of plot and it wasn't very rich with figurative language or dialogue for the students to mentally hear. I would recommend this as a fun, get-to-know-your-class type of book rather than a book for a central lesson focus.
Teaching Application:
The best application I could see this book being used for is a guided reading lesson, primarily focusing on schema - text-to-self, text-to-text, text-to-world relationships. I could also see it being useful for a summarizing/synthesizing activity, where students would write a reflective piece on how they understood the story and related it to something else they already knew.
This is a story about a young boy who's greatest desire is to take the absolute WORST picture for the yearbook, ever. He doesn't comb his hair, he wears dirty clothes, and he makes the ugliest scowl imaginable when he sits in front of the camera. However, he got so excited about how terrible his picture was going to look that he accidentally smiled,, which resulted in him taking the BEST picture he's ever taken.
Evaluation:
This book was fun and entertaining, but it didn't have much substance to work with. It lacked in complexity of plot and it wasn't very rich with figurative language or dialogue for the students to mentally hear. I would recommend this as a fun, get-to-know-your-class type of book rather than a book for a central lesson focus.
Teaching Application:
The best application I could see this book being used for is a guided reading lesson, primarily focusing on schema - text-to-self, text-to-text, text-to-world relationships. I could also see it being useful for a summarizing/synthesizing activity, where students would write a reflective piece on how they understood the story and related it to something else they already knew.
October 24, 2019
Picture Day Perfection is a children's picture book written by Deborah Diesen and illustrated by Dan Santat. It is a clever tale about a kid who wants this year to be his showcase for the perfect school picture. As today is Picture Day for my nieces' school, I thought this book would be rather apropos to read today.
Diesen's text is simplistic and straightforward. It tells a story about a little boy in pursuit of the perfect picture on picture day despite the many misfortunes that happens to him. Santat's illustrations are wonderful with exaggeration of faces done rather well and is rather apropos for the text.
The premise of the book is rather straightforward. Things could not be going more wrong for the narrator on school picture day, which starts with the worst case of bedhead ever and a maple syrup accident, then culminates in some serious paint spattering during art class. What a disaster on the very day one is being captured for posterity.
All in all, Picture Day Perfection is a wonderful children's book about a boy getting the perfected picture for posterity, but in the end redefining perfection.
Diesen's text is simplistic and straightforward. It tells a story about a little boy in pursuit of the perfect picture on picture day despite the many misfortunes that happens to him. Santat's illustrations are wonderful with exaggeration of faces done rather well and is rather apropos for the text.
The premise of the book is rather straightforward. Things could not be going more wrong for the narrator on school picture day, which starts with the worst case of bedhead ever and a maple syrup accident, then culminates in some serious paint spattering during art class. What a disaster on the very day one is being captured for posterity.
All in all, Picture Day Perfection is a wonderful children's book about a boy getting the perfected picture for posterity, but in the end redefining perfection.
Read
October 7, 2019Summary: Picture Day Perfection is a hilarious book about a boy who’s picture day is just being ruined by so many unfortunate events! His shirt gets stained, his hair is messed up, and the background his mom picked out is totally wrong. However, maybe just maybe he wanted all of these things to go wrong, read to find out!
Evaluation: I think this is the absolute cutest book! I love the story and the pictures in the book are perfect and truly represent how the boy is feeling. I think a lot of students relate to hating picture day, and this would be such a funny book to represent that.
Teaching: I would read this book to my students on picture day as a fun little story to read on picture day. I think the students would think this would be a really funny story and it would help the students think of picture day as fun.
Evaluation: I think this is the absolute cutest book! I love the story and the pictures in the book are perfect and truly represent how the boy is feeling. I think a lot of students relate to hating picture day, and this would be such a funny book to represent that.
Teaching: I would read this book to my students on picture day as a fun little story to read on picture day. I think the students would think this would be a really funny story and it would help the students think of picture day as fun.
October 14, 2020
This was a very cute book that I loved reading! It actually made me smile and laugh while I was reading it! At first I was confused but then at the end everything started to make sense. This book was about a boy who had been preparing for picture day at school all month but the day it came, everything was going wrong. At least that's what the reader would think. At the end you will be super shocked because his intentions were different all along. The illustrations in this book were so clear and beautiful and also portrayed many colors. I would loved this book and would read it again. I would definitely recommend this book!
September 4, 2019
Initially the front cover caught my attention so I decided to open the book and I was wow’d by how amazing the illustrations are. Although some of them are simple, some are so detailed and well thought out. I would love to read this to my students on picture day! The imagery engaged me and took me into a whole other world.
Read
April 20, 2020This book is about a schoolboy who sets out to take the perfect bad photo on picture day but ends up taking a perfectly nice photo instead. Students who are in kindergarten or first grade may appreciate the silliness of this story. Because it is a topical story about picture day, I could see it being used as a pre-picture day read aloud.
September 20, 2020
i read this book to my brother today and he found it funny. This book is about a young boy who has a very rough day on picture day and gets glue in his hair, maple syrup on his face, and his hair was a disaster. Before taking his picture he was shy and nervous about it but realized it didn't come out as bad as expected and hes excited for next year's picture.
Read
March 6, 2021This is a humorous book about a boy who tries to take the perfect school picture and has crazy struggles the morning of picture day. A fun book that I could see myself reading on picture day in my classroom or the day before picture day even and I think most students would appreciate the humor. Targeted at grade level K-3rd grade. The illustrations in the book are funny and add a lot of humor.
March 11, 2021
This story would be great to use as a read aloud on picture day or the week of. The story is cute and somewhat humorous, I could see kids believing it to be funny. It tells a good lesson, on that no everything has to be perfect. Also, the illustrations are very much appealing to the eye and I think that does the book justice.
September 7, 2021
A lot of students have anxiety around picture day! This book definitely captured that anxiety and some of the struggles that can go along with it. The illustrations were unique and very well done. Even though it did not end with him liking his picture, it showed determination (for next year) and hope.
November 29, 2021
Realistic Fiction
1st-2nd grade
I loved reading this book to my students on picture day! The character in this book never has a good picture day even this year his picture day starts off terrible and doesn't turn around. As he is sitting in the picture chair and thinking about his past bad pictures he starts to...... as they snap the picture. How do you think his picture turned out?
1st-2nd grade
I loved reading this book to my students on picture day! The character in this book never has a good picture day even this year his picture day starts off terrible and doesn't turn around. As he is sitting in the picture chair and thinking about his past bad pictures he starts to...... as they snap the picture. How do you think his picture turned out?
Displaying 1 - 30 of 192 reviews