First Day Jitters

Praise

“Every child who has moved to a new school or is simply reluctant to start a school year can identify with this wittily drawn and suspensefully told story. From the moment she awakens on the fateful day to the moment she steps into the classroom, Sarah Hartwell imagines the worst. Love’s ink-and-watercolor illustrations add humor to Sarah’s fears, which range from bratty kids to a police search when she doesn’t show up. Mr. Hartwell’s reassurances don’t seem to be much help. The pictures mirror the jangled nerves and outsize expectations (the double-page spread of a looming, prisonlike school is priceless) everyone faces when they are new, all of which leads to a nifty surprise ending that is a delight. Funny and insightful.”—Booklist

“First Day Jitters which was written by Julie Danneberg and illustrated by Judy Love, makes a great companion book to Wemberly Worried. In the opening pages, we meet a certain Sarah Jane Hartwell, who’s in the midst of her own first-day-of-school-related panic attack. Sarah Jane is buried under her covers so far that you can’t even see her face. In fact, you have no idea what she looks like until the very last page of the whimsical book, which suddenly delivers a sly and funny twist…”—Newsweek