First Day, Worst Day

November 1, 2023
An embarrassment-prone kid starts at a new school. The protagonist's name is redacted, and an emoticon-style sticker (showing different emotions) covers his face in the illustrations, because, as he explains, it would be far too humiliating for readers to know his identity. He hopes his new town and school will be a fresh start, but right away, he's plagued by misfortunes. Once he finally makes it to school (late because of a hilarious incident involving maple syrup and a pack of dogs), he searches for his classroom, encountering more woes. Along the way, he crosses paths with star athlete Jake Gold and video game heiress Regina Du Lar, who help him find room 31-Z. The unusual school becomes even odder as the trio uncover a staircase hidden in a locker. Nothing comes of the discovery, however, other than the kids making a new friend (described as having "ghostly pale hands," though in the illustrations, her skin color is somewhere between the narrator's and Jake's paper-white skin tone and Regina's dark brown complexion), who quickly solves their problem and leads them to the classroom. And though the protagonist endures one last embarrassing moment, he's also reassured that his new friends like him anyway. Some readers may be distracted by illustrations that occasionally don't match the stated character details. Though the plot's a little thin, it sticks the landing, and the occasionally gross-out, cringe-type humor will please many readers. Carried by wackiness and jokes aplenty. (Fiction. 6-9)

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November 1, 2023
Grades 2-4 Earnestly preserving their anonymity by blacking out every mention of their name and hiding behind round "happy face" stickers (that change at need to "sad" or "alarmed") in each of the cartoon illustrations, an afflicted young narrator kicks off The Very Worst Ever series with a string of embarrassing first-day incidents at a new school, beginning with an arrival that is both late and at the head of a large pack of flea-bitten dogs, going on to a seemingly endless search for an elusive classroom, and topped by a later call to the office over the general PA system mentioning underwear and clogged toilets. The school itself has a few quirks (the library and gym turn out to be the same room, for instance), and readers may well be inclined to wince in sympathy even as they chortle, but as several classmates met along the way turn out to be helpful friends, "Worst" day actually becomes "Best" by the end.

COPYRIGHT(2023) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

December 1, 2023

Gr 2-4-Get ready to laugh out loud! The hero, who insists on anonymity, ricochets through his disastrous first day in a new school. "I'll tell you," he narrates, "Mondays bring a fresh start. And for an unlucky kid like me, that's worth a thousand Saturdays. Mondays mean last week's mistakes are in the past." His climactic disasters at school and at home are balanced with humor, mystery, and luck, and the development of blossoming friendships indicates that his luck might finally be changing. This title is the first in a series of "The Very Worst Ever" books designed to capture and hold the interest of reluctant readers. The black-and-white, half-page illustrations, which evoke comic books and graphic novels, are paired with short, action-packed paragraphs in double-spaced, readable print. Relative newcomer Jindra (How To Train Your Pet Brain and Lumber Baby) has illustrated this humorous story for early elementary students. The school surroundings are realistic and the characters demonstrate age-appropriate emotions and relationships with peers and adults. VERDICT Pair this chapter book with similar series for reluctant readers in this age group, including "The Time Warp Trio," "My Weirder School," and "Sideways Stories from Wayside School."-Monica Fleche

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