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Last Day Hooray!by Nancy Poydar Ages 4-8 Buy on Amazon The last day of school is finally here. For Ivy and her friends it's time to take down pictures, clean shelves and say good-bye. But there is also time for one last surprise in this companion to First Day, Hooray! |
K-Gr 2 In this companion to First Day, Hooray! (Holiday House, 1999), Poydar celebrates the excitement surrounding the final day of school. Staff and students alike anticipate the long-awaited summer break as they engage in various activities (taking down pictures, signing cards, cleaning up, saying good-bye). The minds of these characters are clearly already on vacation, and as the fish tank is scrubbed clean, giant soap bubbles with pictures of summer daydreams form over their heads. The gouache illustrations bustle with activity and typify the details of a school environment, complete with student artwork on the walls and papers on the floor. A good choice for easing the end-of-the-year good byes.--Melinda Piehler, Sawgrass Elementary School, Sunrise, FL — School Library Journal
It's the last day of school and Ms. Bell's students have a surprise for her. Cartoon-style illustrations follow the students as they prepare for the last-day party, bringing cake and paper chains to school and passing around a shared card to sign. Ms. Bell takes down the year's art from the walls, handing each child his or her self-portrait done in racially appropriate crayon colors. As the children clean the schoolroom, the staff and students daydream of their summer plans: playing in sprinklers, breakfast in bed, gardening, and baseball games. The too-empty schoolroom is wonderfully festive when festooned with paper chains to surprise Ms. Bell, and everyone's happy, "everyone's smarter." The cartoonish figures are nicely accented by the childlike crayon drawings on the one hand, and the caricatured daydream images on the other. — Kirkus Reviews