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The School Trip
Davy isn't sure he's ready for school. He's heard about mean teachers and bullies. Sizing up some potential classmates, he simply decides not to go. He has a better idea: he will build his own school. Not only that, he will put wheels on it!
One thing leads to another, and Davy's mobile school goes out of control, landing in the middle of the classroom of the very surprised and none too pleased Mr. Stern. Davy is relegated to the corner until recess. Then, all the kids gather around him to find out how to put wheels on their school. Trouble looms for Mr. Stern!
- GenresPicture BooksSchool
32 pages, Hardcover
First published February 22, 1997
12 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
March 1, 2023
tl;dr: ???
The Mystery of the Self-Requesting Book
So, my sister is a librarian, and she reads literally hundreds of books each year. Since our library has a maximum limit for hold requests, she often borrows my account to place holds on books once she maxes out her account; this system has worked smoothly for us for years, since I read a lot of digital copies and don't need to place hold requests on many physical books and thus never reach the hold request limit myself.
Last week, I popped onto the library website to request a handful of books. There were a couple dozen hold requests already on my account, as there usually are, this book among them; I thought nothing of it. Half the requests were for picture books, after all; my sister often requests oodles of them to prepare for library story-time. I placed my holds (four picture books and a volume of poetry) and went on my merry way.
Last night, my sister brought home a haul of holds from work, including this book and three of my picture book requests. I collected my loot, leaving behind "The School Trip" with her books. This evening, she brought the book to me:
"You left this behind when you got your books earlier."
"Eh? That's not mine."
"Huh? It's not? It's not mine, though."
"I never requested that. I've never seen it before in my life!"
"But I didn't request it! I thought you requested it with those other picture books. I checked it out on your account."
"No, it was already requested on my account when I went to place holds on those other picture books. I thought you requested it."
"I've never even heard of it before! Are you sure you didn't accidentally request it by mistake?"
"Positive! Sometimes I'll request books from searches or from my picture book to-read list on the library site, but this time I was requesting them from the individual book pages. There weren't any other books to accidentally request."
"Weird. How did it get on your account?"
That is what I want to know. But it seems, dear reader, that we shall never know. The book keeps its own counsel.
The book clearly wanted to be read, however, since it had thrust itself so peremptorily into our lives. I read it aloud to my sister, and our amused bafflement only increased.
In this exceedingly short book, a boy sets out for his first day of school, decides he doesn't want to go to school since he has heard that there are bullies and stern teachers there, and decides to build his own school instead. That evening, his mother asks how his day at school went, and he responds positively. She is delighted and tells him to pay attention and he will go far.
The next day, keeping her words in mind, he decides to add wheels to the amalgamation of odds and ends that is his "school," then he sets off down the road because he wants to go far. His contraption crashes into the schoolhouse (lifting it off the ground), and he gets scolded by the teacher.
At recess, the other children learn from him about his "school," remove the wheels from his contraption and attach them to the schoolhouse, and set off, leaving the teacher behind. The final spread, wordless, shows the three-story schoolhouse floating down the river, the children leaning out its windows and waving from its roof while the teacher furiously rows after them and the boy's mother pauses her bicycle on the riverbank to turn and stare after them in consternation.
It is… absurd?
It has No Concept of Physics.
It has no point?
It isn't supposed to remain tethered to physics, I suppose, and its point is to be humorous. But although I did laugh, it was a laugh of Incredulity and Bewilderment.
What IS this book? How did it come to us? Why did it choose us?
Dear reader, I am Flummoxed.
The Mystery of the Self-Requesting Book
One warm night, a picture book sat alone in a library bag. No one knew it. No one knew where it had come from.
So, my sister is a librarian, and she reads literally hundreds of books each year. Since our library has a maximum limit for hold requests, she often borrows my account to place holds on books once she maxes out her account; this system has worked smoothly for us for years, since I read a lot of digital copies and don't need to place hold requests on many physical books and thus never reach the hold request limit myself.
Last week, I popped onto the library website to request a handful of books. There were a couple dozen hold requests already on my account, as there usually are, this book among them; I thought nothing of it. Half the requests were for picture books, after all; my sister often requests oodles of them to prepare for library story-time. I placed my holds (four picture books and a volume of poetry) and went on my merry way.
Last night, my sister brought home a haul of holds from work, including this book and three of my picture book requests. I collected my loot, leaving behind "The School Trip" with her books. This evening, she brought the book to me:
"You left this behind when you got your books earlier."
"Eh? That's not mine."
"Huh? It's not? It's not mine, though."
"I never requested that. I've never seen it before in my life!"
"But I didn't request it! I thought you requested it with those other picture books. I checked it out on your account."
"No, it was already requested on my account when I went to place holds on those other picture books. I thought you requested it."
"I've never even heard of it before! Are you sure you didn't accidentally request it by mistake?"
"Positive! Sometimes I'll request books from searches or from my picture book to-read list on the library site, but this time I was requesting them from the individual book pages. There weren't any other books to accidentally request."
"Weird. How did it get on your account?"
That is what I want to know. But it seems, dear reader, that we shall never know. The book keeps its own counsel.
The book clearly wanted to be read, however, since it had thrust itself so peremptorily into our lives. I read it aloud to my sister, and our amused bafflement only increased.
In this exceedingly short book, a boy sets out for his first day of school, decides he doesn't want to go to school since he has heard that there are bullies and stern teachers there, and decides to build his own school instead. That evening, his mother asks how his day at school went, and he responds positively. She is delighted and tells him to pay attention and he will go far.
The next day, keeping her words in mind, he decides to add wheels to the amalgamation of odds and ends that is his "school," then he sets off down the road because he wants to go far. His contraption crashes into the schoolhouse (lifting it off the ground), and he gets scolded by the teacher.
At recess, the other children learn from him about his "school," remove the wheels from his contraption and attach them to the schoolhouse, and set off, leaving the teacher behind. The final spread, wordless, shows the three-story schoolhouse floating down the river, the children leaning out its windows and waving from its roof while the teacher furiously rows after them and the boy's mother pauses her bicycle on the riverbank to turn and stare after them in consternation.
It is… absurd?
It has No Concept of Physics.
It has no point?
It isn't supposed to remain tethered to physics, I suppose, and its point is to be humorous. But although I did laugh, it was a laugh of Incredulity and Bewilderment.
What IS this book? How did it come to us? Why did it choose us?
Dear reader, I am Flummoxed.
March 6, 2023
As my sister explained in more detail in her review (https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...), this book arrived at the library under her name, and I assumed that she had requested it, but no! She had not. She assumed that I had requested it, since I frequently use her account to get around the maximum holds cap on my account. We have no idea how or why this book made its way to us, but she did a dramatic reading.
The story is strange, with no sense of physics, and it encourages a negative view of school that doesn't make sense for a picture book, since it can introduce fear and negativity surrounding an experience most picture book readers haven't had yet. The illustrations are full of interesting visual details, but they're not my style, and I didn't find anything about this book particularly appealing.
The story is strange, with no sense of physics, and it encourages a negative view of school that doesn't make sense for a picture book, since it can introduce fear and negativity surrounding an experience most picture book readers haven't had yet. The illustrations are full of interesting visual details, but they're not my style, and I didn't find anything about this book particularly appealing.
September 10, 2016
The illustrations are gorgeous! In fact, with 2 dozen books laid out, my little guy chose this first based on the illustrations. From the start, it was fun to take a closer look at little gems of detail the illustrator thoughtfully included. I love how the story takes a feeling everybody experiences and goes clearly into whimsical fantasy. My little boy pored over the pictures following our read, and excitedly gave a lot of opinion and appreciation for the story and pictures. What little boy doesn't love the impossible happening!? Fun! Fabulous!
March 18, 2011
Story (and especially the ending) were kinda weird. Illustrations, while beautiful, were too abstract for my little one to pick out familiar objects. Seems like it reinforces a negative view about school.
November 19, 2013
The illustrations are my favorite part about this book, they are great! The story itself is alright, it's silly but it seems to leave some details out. I'm not sure that a young student would understand the order in which the events happen.
April 16, 2009
It's about a kid that wants to make his own school.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews