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Average Customer Rating:

Fun way to start the school year

Customer Rating:

I love this book! The characters and illustrations in this book develop a fun and entertaining story which carries the theme "too much of a good thing can be a bad thing." In this case, the "thing" is school. The Principal of Tillie's school has decided to increase learning by continually adding days to the school year. Tillie finds a way to gently convince her Principal that although school is a wonderful place for students to learn, there are some things they need to learn and participate in away from school. This book has loveable and relatable characters as well as charming and informative illustrations that clearly come together to display that too much of a good thing can indeed be a bad thing. Even though there is a clear lesson to be learned, the story is also very humorous and entertaining by itself. This is a great book to read to--or be read by--young elementary students and enjoyed for years to come.

Excellent Read	Customer Rating:
This book is a great book to ease the stress of the first day of school. It has a great repetitive text for kids learning to read and it is a humorous story so even the picky reader will enjoy it.

Funny Book	Customer Rating:
This book is really funny from a teacher's point of view. I plan on reading it the first day of school to a group of third graders. It's a great way to promote your school.

A Fine, Fine School	Customer Rating:
This is an excellent book. Especially in light of our demands on schools these days...with testing...the amount of information we are req'd to cover...the amount of material students are expected to know etc. This story really brings us back to the basics of living life and enjoying each day.

Fine as fish hair

Customer Rating:

The pairing of children's author superstar Sharon Creech (Newbery winner "Walk Two Moons" anyone?) and New Yorker cartoonist Harry Bliss (the modern equivalent of Margaret Bloy Graham of "Harry the Dirty Dog" fame) was not an intuitive one. It was not a given that these two wunderkinds would find one another and produce, for the world, "A Fine, Fine School". It was even less of a given that the book would turn out to be as good as it was. It's just nice that it worked out that way. We are introduced to the bespectacled Tillie, her oddly unnamed toddler brother, and her dog Beans. We are also introduced to Mr. Keene, the kind of guy whose first name is probably "Peachy". Mr. Keene is the principal of Tillie's school and he is just overwhelmed with delight at his fine children, their fine teachers (no winking), and the fine fine school they all work and learn in. Mr. Keene is so delighted, in fact, that one day he calls all the students and teachers together and proposes that the school be open on Saturdays too. The kids and teacher are, needless to say, not thrilled with this notion. Mr. Keene has apparently never heard of there being too much of a good thing, so he quickly makes Sundays mandatory school days as well. Next, holidays are abandoned, making this the first picture book I have ever seen containing the phrase, "Easter Schmeaster". Finally (amid much rending of hair, tears, and lapses into unconsciousness), Mr. Keene declares the summer to be a time of learning as well. Tillie, for her part, has been unable to help her little brother learn and play. It's up to her to explain, kindly, to the cheery Mr. Keene the flaws in his delightful plans. The story, in and of itself, is fine. I mean, it's a novel idea to have a sympathetic principal character who does increasingly well-intentioned but blundering things. Also, this is the first children's book I read where the children have to take summer school because they're doing so WELL. Honestly, however, there's not much to say about the plot. I like Sharon Creech, but nothing in this storyline really blows me away. Harry Bliss's illustrations on the other hand... Now, I should preface this a little. I grew up reading a heckuva lot of Steven Kellogg growing up. I was entranced with any picture book artist that could slip a million tiny details into an illustration that would later be found and poured over by children worldwide. I continue to be entranced by such artists to this very day, and Harry Bliss has become one of my new favorites. Under his guidance this fine fine school moves from simply being okay to becoming fabulous. Kids in it read books like, "Catcher in the Rye" and "Pleasing the Ghost". They define words like "futurism" and "cubism" and construct nine feet tall dinosaurs out of paper mache. In Bliss's world the dog Beans is near human, reading New York Times articles on Al Hirschfeld and drinking coffee. Heck, every picture in this book has a million different little details and delights to discover. Mr. Keene is the ultimate happy-go-lucky guy. The kind of fellow so nice and sweet that no one has the heart to actually come out and say that school on week-ends, holidays, and in the summer might be a bad idea. And when he announces that school will no longer fall on those days, Bliss taps into the joy and energy kids feel on the last day of school. There's a whole lot of joy going on in this book's finish. The best way to tell if this is the kind of book your kid will enjoy is to flip through it yourself. Just take a look at the illustrations for a moment. Spend some time with this tale. If you don't find yourself charmed and delighted after a few minutes of sifting through it then this book will probably do nothing for you or your child. But if you find yourself intrigued and delighted, snatch it up tout suite and give it to a child who'll appreciate it. This is a book that understands the worthiness of school, and the ecstasy of not having to go.