Sometimes it seems like half of our home library–or Zadie’s portion of it anyway–consists of books featuring a different animal for each letter of the alphabet. How many animal alphabet books could one possibly need? Yes, A is for alligator, but it’s also for allspice, allen wrench, and almonds, three things I hope Zadie encounters more frequently than alligators. “Miss Bindergarten Celebrates the 100th Day of Kindergarten” is an animal alphabet book, but it’s more complex and engaging than most in this category.
The premise is that for the class’s 100th day of kindergarten, each student has to bring in 100 of something. The students range from pigs to voles and their teacher, Miss Bindergarten, is a dog. The pages alternate between illustrations of the children getting ready (“Patricia sorts her crayons. Quentin* revs toy cars. Raffie lifts the lid up on one hundred dinosaurs.” ) and scenes of Miss Bindergarten getting ready for the 100th day of kindergarten. The first few times I read this book, I felt a sense of melancholy surrounding Miss Bindergarten’s preparations. We see her walking through the rain to get to her classroom, umbrella dripping as she lugs tote bags and carts full of supplies. And we see her making ice cubes at home in her pajamas the night before. In each case, she looks like she’s exhausted from the effort. But the more I read it, the more I felt soothed by the calmness of her work. After all, doesn’t everyone want to have a patient, dedicated kindergarten teacher who cooks up mini-celebrations that involve counting and sharing and 100th day punch?
"Ian brings a relative who's lived a hundred years."
"Miss Bindergarten gets ready for the 100th day of kindergarten."
With its hodgepodge of colors and strangely anthropomorphized animals (e.g. a dog in duck shoes, a trenchcoat, and a kerchief), the illustrations didn’t immediately draw me in. But each page is incredibly detailed with wonderful kindergarten-y things: labelled cubbies tucked into shelves, drawings of each kid’s favorite food hanging on the wall, and an aquarium with 100 baby fish. As Miss Bindergarten moves around the room you find yourself spotting the same objects from a new perspective. That “Can you find…?” quality combined with the animals, letters, and numbers makes this one book that I’m hoping we’re still reading when Zadie’s in kindergarten.
* Quick! Can you think of a marsupial that starts with the letter Q?
Tags: 12 months +, animals, rhyming
