100 School Days

by Anne Rockwell, Lizzy Rockwell (Illustrator)

Overview

Mrs. Madoff's class is counting pennies — one for every day of school. When they get to 10 pennies, they know they've been going to school for 10 days. What will happen when they get to 100? How will they celebrate Day 100, and what will they do with their 100 pennies?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780064437271
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	12/28/2004
Pages:	40
Sales rank:	986,418
Product dimensions:	9.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.00(d)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Anne Rockwell was a pioneer in the field of nonfiction for very young children. She has more than a hundred books to her credit, including Why Are the Ice Caps Melting? and Clouds in the Let’s-Read-and-Find-Out Science series.

Anne and Lizzy Rockwell have collaborated on all the Mrs. Madoff books, including St. Patrick's Day and Presidents' Day, and Who Lives in an Alligator Hole? in the Let's-Read-and-Find-Out Science series. Lizzy is the author-illustrator of Good Enough to Eat, The Busy Body Book, The All-Together Quilt, and How Do You Feel? Lizzy lives in Connecticut.

Editorial Reviews

K-Gr 1-Celebrating this milestone has become popular in the last few years, and Rockwell turns her attention to this event. On the first day of school, Jessica's teacher gives her a penny to drop in the jar on her desk. A different student brings in a coin each day to add to it. Counting by 10 is reinforced whenever the jar reaches a number divisible by 10, since the student bringing in the penny that day also gets to bring in a special collection of items celebrating that number. Rockwell's realistically rendered illustrations are drenched in color, creating a warm and inviting classroom and familial spaces. The book ends with the children seated at circle time, their teacher holding up a newspaper with the headline "Hurricane Hannah Hits" and a comment that all the local schools are sending their jars of 100 pennies to a town damaged by the storm. While the story will be well received in primary classrooms and by parents looking to reinforce the math concepts, the sudden introduction of the hurricane at the end of the book is a bit jarring. That quibble aside, this title can hold its own against Margery Cuyler's 100th Day Worries (S & S, 2000) and Joseph Slate's Miss Bindergarten Celebrates the 100th Day of Kindergarten (Dutton, 1998).-Lisa Gangemi Kropp, Middle Country Public Library, Centereach, NY Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

School Library Journal

Celebrating the 100th day of school has become a ritual in the US, and Rockwell (Becoming Butterflies, p. 107, etc.) gives it a somewhat flat, if good-hearted tribute in this addition to the short list of titles on the subject. Mrs. Madoff's class starts the countdown by dropping a penny in a jar for each day of school. At each interval of 10, each child brings in a little something special: 10 balloons, 20 matchbox cars, 30 leaves, 70 sunflower seeds, 80 Popsicle sticks. Finally, they reach the 100 mark, everyone brings in 100 yummy things, and they decide to send their $1 to aid hurricane victims; who is going to quibble with that thoughtful gesture? But there are other problems afoot, mostly concerned with the flat tone of the art and story. The illustrations are sweet but bland, and totally lacking in personality. The text is blander still. The narrator brings in 10 balloons to mark Day 10: "Then Sam and I took them to the principal's office. She said, 'Thank you! These are beautiful!' " It's not easy to make something lighter than air feel so wooden, but perhaps it comes from trying to make a point. (Picture book. 3-6)

Kirkus Reviews