April Fool! Watch Out at School!: A Springtime Book For Kids

Gilbert and Friends

by Diane deGroat

It's April Fools' Day, and Gilbert is looking forward to playing tricks on his friends. Unfortunately he's the one getting tricked by everyone else, including Mrs. Byrd! But the worst prankster is Lewis the bully. In the end Gilbert outwits Lewis with the best trick of all.

Diane deGroat's delightful story and fun-filled illustrations will enchant readers of all ages, especially when they discover the surprises in many of the illustrations. The reader is getting April Fooled, too!

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Holiday, School

32 pages, Hardcover

First published February 17, 2009

Reviews

[Mortisha Cassavetes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a fun book with lots of pranks for April Fools Day! Gilbert is so excited for school because he plans of playing tricks on all his friends. But things don't go how he planned. No spoilers! What I love most about this book is all the fun mishaps to find on the pages of the book. I highly recommend this book to kids of all ages to celebrate April Fool's Day!

[Olivia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved Gilbert's trick! It made my daughter giggle!

[Rebecca Caufman · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good book to demonstrate how annoying April 1st can be and how paranoid one can get when dealing with students at a school during the day.

[Bridget Neace · Rating 3 out of 5]

Never been a big fan of April Fool's Day books/pranks, but liked it well enough--our family enjoys the Gilbert books. :)

[Katie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Every April Fools book I find makes it seem scary.
Can anyone suggest a fun April Fools book for preschoolers?

[Erin Field · Rating 5 out of 5]

Spring Challenge 2023

[Jamal Scott · Rating 5 out of 5]

When rating this book I would have to say I would give it a 5 star because of how the book looks illustration wise and story line wise. Like a lot of children books the characters are little animals instead of humans. When you open the cover on the left you see the bully behind gilbert about to put a fake spider on him and Gilbert's name is spelled "Gilbret" and I thought it was funny because it's a typical children's book because these kids in the story are probably just learning to read. From start to finish this book is filled with color and illustration. It also has little section that shows you where the tricks are in the book.

When the book starts off the main character wakes up and it's April fools day. He's excited to go to school to start pranking his classmates. When he goes to school he starts getting pranked over and over especially by this bully named Lewis was the one who pranked him the most. As the day goes on Gilbert finds the perfect way to get Lewis back and it was to make Lewis think he was going to prank him but in the end there wasn't a prank at all. Instead a girl named Kenny ended up pranking him with a fake spider because Lewis thought Gilbert was going to do it. I thought it was a good little story line from start to finish in my opinion for kids.

[Ina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Poor vulnerable Gilbert has a rough April Fools' Day, even his own mother plays a trick on him! Gilbert arrives at school filled with tricks of his own…but he can't trick anyone. There are soft illustrations filled with warmth and humor. Gilbert, with the help of his friends does manage to play the best trick of all on the class bully, Lewis. My story time audience helped keep count of all of the pranks and jokes played in this book and there are a lot!

[Nicole · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute book. One I got on a teacher's book order form with a CD, so my son has listened to it before, but I read it to my 2-year-old tonight. It kept her attention and loved turning the pages (which may be the most important thing here, not the book itself lol). Anyway, I thought it was a cute book with kind-of a good moral lesson in it. Darling pictures.

[Jennie]

April Fools day is no fun for Gilbert. Everyone is playing jokes on him, and he can’t seem to fool anyone! He really would like to trick Lewis, but finds out pretending is much more fun than actually doing a trick. gr. K-4.

[Jesika La Bryer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another Gilbert adventure. In this book Gilbert goes to school on April Fool's day and watches all the tricks happening. I love the pictures more than the text (but the text is very cute)!
Copyright 2009

[Yapha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another fun book in the Gilbert & Friends series! It is April Fool's Day and everyone is tricking Gilbert, even his own mother! None of his friends are falling for his tricks, unfortunately. Then Gilbert has an idea. Can he pull off the biggest trick of all on Lewis? Recommended for grades K-3.

[CLM]

I love this author, and am delighted a new book is coming.

[Molly · Rating 2 out of 5]

Gilbert falls for everyones april fools jokes. And Finally comes up with one of his own. Grades 2+

[Sherry · Rating 5 out of 5]

The reading group really seemed to enjoy this story of a school day full of April Fools tricks!

[Rachel · Rating 2 out of 5]

Just silly, good for the holiday in the classroom.

[Katie Fitzgerald · Rating 4 out of 5]

No review.

[Chanel · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is about a little April Fool's fun!!!

[Lauri · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute April Fool's Day story! There are fun "tricks" in the illustrations as well as the story itself. Kids loved it - laughed out loud at the "Gotcha" moment at the end.

[Mackenzie · Rating 5 out of 5]

i love this book

[Alice · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked this up at a thrift store near April Fools Day and it was fun! I really enjoyed the pranks and the lack of pranks.

11/10/14 Read it again still funny!