Mom, It’s My First Day of Kindergarten! – Reviewed by Connie Nordhielm Wooldridge

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Mom, It’s My First Day of Kindergarten!

Written and illustrated by Hyewon Yum; Frances Foster Books/Farrar Straus Giroux, 2012. 32 pages; $16.99 (hardback); ages 4-6.

The five-year-old hero of this tale is well-adjusted, brimming with energy, and ready for his first day of kindergarten. His mom? Well…not so much. As the illustrations (literally!) make clear, she feels small and blue. She worries about whether he has everything needs in his backpack. “I’m all set!” he announces confidently. He runs down the street to school; she drags reluctantly behind. He says hi to a new little girl; she shrinks away from all the new people. When he experiences a moment of hesitation just outside the door, Mom grows to normal size (and color!) and reassures him. But when she picks him up after his “awesome” first day, and he suggests he might like to ride the bus, she shrinks back to small and blue again. There are boatloads of books about shy kids facing the kindergarten right-of-passage. Here’s one for you emotional parents of type-A kids. Yum explores less-travelled territory with just the right mix of sensitivity and humor. P.S. – Don’t miss the endpapers, which tell the wordless picture story of our hero comically trying to dress himself!

Mom, It’s My First Day of Kindergarten! was recently purchased at The Blue Marble Children’s Bookstore by Connie