On the First Day of Grade School

by Emily Brenner

On the first day of grade school, the students love their teacher so much that they give her a python -- one that doesn’t squeeze her. On the second day, they give her two buzzing bees. On the third day she receives three fat rats, on the fourth four burping goats, on the fifth... and the days and presents just keep coming! Emily Brenner’s clever classroom take on the classic "Twelve Days of Christmas" song and Bruce Whatley’s hilarious illustrations will have kids and teachers caroling all year long! Emily Brenner is the author of several children’s books. She lives in New York with her husband and children. Bruce Whatley is the illustrator of numerous picture books, including all things bright and beautiful by Cecil Frances Alexander, here comes santa claus by Gene Autry and Oakley Haldeman, and the night before christmas by Clement C. Moore. He is both the author and illustrator of wait! no paint!, and he collaborated with his wife, Rosie Smith, on detective donut and the wild goose chase and captain pajamas. Mr. Whatley lives with his family on a farm in Australia.

Genres: Picture Books, School, Humor, Teachers, Back To School

Library Binding

First published June 29, 2004

Reviews

[Audrey Selene · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this book charming. Some pages are laugh-out-loud funny.

[Catherine Johnson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this and my son loved it. A cool version of the 12 days of christmas. The illustrations do a great job of captivating the reader with the funny snake and other entertaining creatures. the author has a vivid imagination and combines some interesting concepts to bring us a hoot of a book that you can either read or sing to your littlies.

[Kelley Mcalhany · Rating 4 out of 5]

Spin off of Twelve days of Christmas, I can use it for writing, predictions, or math lessons

[Rose Rosetree · Rating 5 out of 5]

Soon as I read that title, I wished it could be a spoof of the "Twelve Days of Christmas" -- and now here it is. Not only is this a spoof for the grownups to read to children, but this is the rare kid-lit book that we can sing to them.

Plus, this is such a lighthearted way to approach a topic often worried about by parents and children alike: ooh, that first day of grade school!

Also, what a superb way to create that perennial kid-lit favorite genre, a counting book!

Illustrations by Bruce Whatley are perfect support for the concept, being adventurous, comical, and somehow (to my eyes) surprisingly realistic.

And thank you, author Emily Brenner, for your wildly inventive mind and your excellent musical ear.

My favorite day in this book? Day EIGHT. Haha.

Prepare for a perfect ending, too, Goodreaders.

By all means, Goodreaders, comment below and tell us which is your favorite day of this song, mmm, picture book.

[Lucas Beagle · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book Is great to read on the first day!
This to me could be used as an ice breaker activity ignorer to get to know people and to make people comfortable with one another.
This book goes with the song "12 days of Christmas:, its very great to read when you sing along with it and have the kids chime in!!

[Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Super ridiculous. I laughed out loud and my manager came out of the office to see what I was laughing at... ha!

[Maribeth Tomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Picture Book Project

Category: Counting Book

Source: Dr. Kimmel approved

This book will entice readers by how colorful it is and with all of the animals that are involved in the story. The front cover has a bunch of presents with eyes peeking out of them so that would pique the curiosity of children.

The front cover is very colorful. There is clearly a teacher with some of her students and boxes of presents all around her. Some of the presents have holes in them with eyes looking through them. It makes you wonder what is in all of these boxes! The back cover is a class picture with the teacher, her students, and a lot of different animals. Again, very colorful. The pictures start off very simple in the beginning of the book, but as the story progresses, the pictures become more and more cluttered with animals and the text begin to get longer and longer with each page. If you remove the jacket, it has the same pictures on the front and back cover as the jacket. It doesn't state what the medium is, but it looks like watercolors and colored pencils.

My personal reaction to this story was that it was enjoyable and very fun. The text is meant to be sang like the lyrics in "12 Days of Christmas." Although the text gets longer and longer, it's still easy to read because you're singing the text. I liked the artwork as well. The animals aren't your typical classroom pets. They range from a python to gorillas and are all friendly, but act very goofy and it's funny to see what each animal is doing differently on every page. I think the kids will find this comical because these funny animals are being given to the teacher as gifts from her students.

I would definitely use this book for early elementary counting. It only goes up to twelve, but you can easily use the animals to help with the counting. After each animal is presented, you can go back and count each set of animals individually. If you wanted to count higher than twelve, you can count all the animals together. You can also discuss the different animals that are used and what sounds these animals make. You can find background knowledge to see if students have ever seen these kinds of animals and if there are students who have pets like these at home.

[Shannon · Rating 4 out of 5]

The illustrations are really what make this book great. I love the looks of shock and terror on the teacher's and then various animals' faces throughout the book.

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kids loved the repetition and the versing similar to the Twelve Days of Christmas.

[SARAH · Rating 3 out of 5]

to the tune of On the First Day of Christmas