Billy and the Big New School - Hardcover

Anholt, Laurence

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0807507431 ISBN 13: 9780807507438

Publisher: Albert Whitman & Co, 1999

Synopsis

Billy is nervous about starting school, but as he cares for a baby sparrow that eventually learns to fly on its own, he realizes that he too can look after himself. By the creators of The Big Book of Families.

About this title

About the Author:

Laurence and Catherine Anholt live and work in a house and studios on top of a hill above the sea in Devon. They started making picture books together in 1984 when their first daughter was born. Since then they have created more than 200 books, which are published all over the world in more than 30 languages.

Their titles range from classic picture books such as Babies Love Books, featured in The Sunday Times 100 Modern Children's Classics, to Laurence's self-illustrated Artists series - an introduction to great artists for young children. Laurence was also included in the Independent on Sunday's Top 10 Children's Authors in the UK, described as 'one of the most versatile authors writing for children today'.

The Anholts have been closely involved with a number of literacy schemes such as the UK Government funded Bookstart scheme, which encourages parents to share books with babies from the earliest possible age.

From Publishers Weekly:

The Anholts (The Big Book of Families) offer a poignant but reassuring treatment of the anxiety a child feels facing the first day at a new school. Billy confides his fears to the birds in his backyard; he's worried not just about getting lost, but also about the new shoes his mother has bought him, "with laces that were hard to tie." The day before the big start, Billy rescues a young sparrow that is not strong enough to fly. Using a characteristic mix of vignettes, spot art and large-scale illustrations, the Anholts affectionately juxtapose the drama of Billy's sheltering of the bird with the preparations made for school. While Billy makes the bird a nest in a shoebox, his mother is ironing and writing his name on his clothes. The parallel becomes explicit the next morning, when Billy and his mother release the recovered sparrow: "'You have to fly away,' he whispered. 'You have to learn to take care of yourself?like me.'" The drawings of the school (showing children romping on the playground, the kindly teacher, the toilets, the painting area and the computer) will kindle young children's interest, addressing both the strangeness of a new school as well as its possibilities for promoting friendships and positive experiences. As school-jitters stories go, this has an advantage apart from its gracefulness: because the Anholts never spell out Billy's exact situation, their book will be equally appropriate to children facing their first day of kindergarten or moving from one school to another. Ages 4-6.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Albert Whitman & Co
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 0807507431
• ISBN 13: 9780807507438
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 32
• Illustrator: Anholt Catherine