Stories with class

With kids soon heading to school, Bernie Goedhart suggests titles to ease the transition.

Buddy and Earl Go to School

Maureen Fergus Illustrated by Carey Sookocheff Groundwood Books

The Winnipeg author’s book is part of a popular series about Buddy the dog and Earl, his hedgehog friend. Illustrated by Toronto’s Carey Sookocheff, this volume opens with a child — carrying a stack of books, pencils and an apple — telling her pets they are about to go to school. Earl greets this news with customary enthusiasm, telling Buddy that “getting an education is the first step to achieving my dream of becoming a dentist.”

Buddy is doubtful, but his prickly pal assures him that with the right education he, too, can become anything he chooses. When the girl is called away from the classroom she has created, putting Earl in charge in her absence, the hedgehog’s dreams of dentistry quickly make way for professorial aspirations. For ages 3 to 7.

Here Comes Teacher Cat

Deborah Underwood Illustrated by Claudia Rueba Dial Books

This story gives us another critter thrust into a classroom situation, although this one approaches the task with less enthusiasm than Earl did. Cat would rather be napping. A familiar figure in the Here Comes series illustrated by Claudia Rueba, Cat has stepped into the role of a tooth fairy, Easter bunny, Santa Claus and Valentine dispenser in the past, but educating a clutch of kittens is something new.

With the help of the unseen narrator he rises to the occasion, leading kittens in music (until his electric guitar draws the ire of a teacher in the adjacent classroom), woodworking (in which the kittens build a fish fountain), and art (where Cat’s paw-paint session runs slightly amok). By the time Ms. Melba, the kittens’ regular teacher, returns from her doctor’s appointment (wearing a veterinary collar), the kittens have grown as adept as Cat at speaking sign language. Ages 3 to 7.

A Letter to My Teacher

Deborah Hopkinson Illustrated by Nancy Carpenter Schwartz & Wade Books

This is the story of a little girl who approaches the first day of school with grumpy resignation.

“For me,” she says, “school meant sitting still and listening, two things I wasn’t much good at.” Luckily, her Grade 2 teacher knows how to reach her — and how to nurture her lively spirit while still setting boundaries. Nancy Carpenter’s lively, graphically sophisticated illustrations are a perfect match for the story, which is told in the form of a letter from the child, now grown, to her teacher.

Aimed at ages 4 to 8 and highly recommended, this book is bound to find its way to plenty of adults as well.