This idyllic view of school is a good way to prepare nervous new preschoolers and kindergartners. The simple, rhymed text and big, clear color pictures outlined in thick black line show a classroom with seven kids and the teacher they love having fun on a typical day: reading together, trading lunches, listening to stories, playing games, caring for pets. The cast is diverse, and there are no old-fashioned gender roles: boys and girls play with dolls, kick a ball, and pick flowers--sometimes alone, sometimes together. The endpapers present an assortment of facts--1+1= 2; a rabbit's teeth never stop growing, etc.), all of which are part of the story about the excitement of school. Hazel Rochman Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved -