CCBC Booklists

CCBC Review:

Sal is eager to start first grade, but nothing goes as she’d imagined after she and her best friend, Griff, get different teachers. Griff has Ms. Flowers, who is young, wears red shoes, and has a tape-measure belt. Sal (white) gets Ms. McCormick, who is older and wears shoes that look like “loaves of underbaked bread.” In the coming days at school, Sal longs to be in Ms. Flowers’s class, which is clearly more fun; she dresses like Ms. Flowers and looks for ways to get switched. An uncomfortable disagreement with Griff adds to Sal’s unhappiness. At home, Sal is frustrated by having to share her bedroom with little sister, Poppy, and jealous of big brother Billy’s job as a dog-sitter. Sal agrees to getting her often-tangled hair cut shorter, realizing it will give her one more thing in common with Ms. Flowers. Instead, it makes her question whether she’s still the same Sal she was before first grade. As in the earlier Miller Family books, Sal’s parents provide love, stability, and reassurance as she navigates unsettling emotional terrain. But it is Ms. McCormick who provides much-needed comfort when Sal is upset one morning, an encounter that leaves Sal feeling a meaningful connection to, and genuine warmth for, her teacher. Solidly grounded in Sal’s perspective, this tenderly funny story shines with its honest depiction of and respect for Sal’s messy feelings. ©2025 Cooperative Children’s Book Center

Illustrated by Kevin Henkes

CCBC Age Recommendation: Ages 5-9
Age Range: PreK-Early Elementary (Ages 4-7) Grades 3-5 (Ages 8-10)
Format: Novel
Subjects: Disappointment Expectations Families Frustration Humor Jealousy/Envy School Teachers/Mentors

On CCBC Booklist: School Stories: Selected PreK-12 Literature about the School Experience 

Publishers: Greenwillow, HarperCollins
Publish Year: 2024
Pages: 248
ISBN: 9780063389625
CCBC Location: Fiction, Henkes

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