Description
It is the first day of school in Chad, Africa. Children are filling the road. Will they give us a notebook? Thomas asks. Will they give us a pencil? Will I learn to read? But when he and the other children arrive at the school yard, they find no classroom, no desks. Just a teacher. We will build our school, she says. This is our first lesson. James Rumford, who lived in Chad as a Peace Corps volunteer, fills these pages with the vibrant colours of Africa and the spare words of a poet to show how important learning is in a country where only a few children are able to go to school. Review: While serving as a Peace Corps volunteer, Rumford was a teacher in Chad, and the authentic details illuminate the spare text and beautiful artwork. On double-page spreads, the colored-pencil, ink, and pastel images echo the words' elemental rhythms as they contrast golden-hued portraits of the children happily learning with dark, rain-drenched scenes of the school disappearing. The building eventually vanishes, but it doesn't matter. The letters have been learned and taken away by the children. ...Without a heavy message, this spare and moving offering will leave kids thinking about the daily lives of other young people around the world. (Booklist, starred review)
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