First Grade Dropout

After Vernick's young narrator accidentally calls his teacher "Mommy," he believes that the only reasonable response to this humiliation (after casting aside ideas that involve magic and time machines) is to drop out of Lakeview Elementary School. (The boy takes little comfort when his teacher says, "Don't worry. It happens every year," all too aware that everyone--even his best friend--laughed at him.) Vernick's tousled-haired hero may feel miserable, but he has the self-awareness, timing, and raconteurship of a master monologist; readers will be won over from his intriguing opening line ("I've been lots of things") and quickly assured that this, too, shall pass. So effective is Vernick (Bogart and Vinnie) in conjuring the boy's blush-inducing, sweat-triggering embarrassment, readers young and old will probably find themselves flashing back to their own not-quite-forgotten moments of humiliation. Likewise, Cordell's (Special Delivery) sketchlike illustrations, composed of frenetic ink lines and punctuated with washes of bright color, are almost Feifferesque in their sense of emotional spontaneity and comic angst. Ages 4-8. Author's agent: Erin Murphy, Erin Murphy Literary Agency. Illustrator's agent: Rosemary Stimola, Stimola Literary Studio. (July)

Copyright 2015 Publishers Weekly, LLC Used with permission.

PreS-Gr 1--After an embarrassing incident in class, a boy decides that he is a laughingstock and does not want to return to Lakeview Elementary. "I've been lots of things. Hungry. Four years old. Crazy bored. Soaking wet.... But the worst thing to be is what I am right now." Vernick builds the narrative tension masterfully as the narrator miserably considers ways he might hide from his shame. Maybe he could use magic? A time machine? Unfortunately, there is no getting around it. He will have to drop out of school. He accidentally called his teacher "Mommy." And everyone laughed, even his best friend. Sure, the narrator laughed last year when his best friend's Halloween costume fell off--"but that was FUNNY." Kids will revel in the humor even as they sympathize with the main character's agony. Cordell's scribbly lined ink and watercolor illustrations are marvelously expressive and heighten the humor and the pathos of the narrator's predicament. Teachers and parents will eagerly use this titles as a conversation opener about compassion. Children and adults alike will be comforted by the reminder of how fleeting even the worst embarrassments often are. VERDICT This winning picture book will be popular for its entertainment value, as well as for its potential to introduce ideas about empathy.--Rachel Anne Mencke, St. Matthew's Parish School, Pacific Palisades, CA

Copyright 2015 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

* "Vernick's tousled-haired hero may feel miserable, but he has the self-awareness, timing, and raconteurship of a master monologist; readers will be won over from his intriguing opening line ("I've been lots of things") and quickly assured that this, too, shall pass."
—Publishers Weekly, starred review

"Cordell's ink-and-watercolor illustrations masterfully portray the first-person narrator's every emotion: chagrin, nervousness, embarrassment, sadness, anger. A sure conversation-starter about empathy."
—Kirkus

"With cartoonish, frenetic lines and messy blobs of color, the childish feel of Cordell's illustrations make Vernick's message clear: school life and friendship can be confusing...Many readers will recognize themselves in these pages."
—Booklist

"Vernick's tightly wound age-appropriately self-absorbed narrator is hugely relatable, but readers will also get that he's overdoing it...a riot as well as an analgesic."
—Horn Book Magazine

"This winning picture book will be popular for its entertainment value, as well as for its potential to introduce ideas about empathy."
—School Library Journal

"The amusingly brassy and exaggerated text is clever, deploying hyperbole to make a genuinely humiliating situation into something kids can chuckle at with sympathy."
—Bulletin