Is Your Buffalo Ready for Kindergarten?

by Audrey Vernick, Daniel Jennewein (Illustrator)

Overview

Your buffalo is growing up. He plays with friends. He shares his toys. He's smart! But is he ready for kindergarten? (And is kindergarten ready for him?)

Is Your Buffalo Ready for Kindergarten? is a hilarious look at first-day-of-school jitters from author Audrey Vernick and illustrator Daniel Jennewein.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780061762758
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	06/22/2010
Pages:	32
Sales rank:	1,113,971
Product dimensions:	8.40(w) x 11.10(h) x 0.50(d)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Audrey Vernick is the author of more than a dozen books for young readers, including Is Your Buffalo Ready For Kindergarten? and She Loved Baseball: The Effa Manley Story. She is also the coauthor of the middle grade novels Two Naomis and Naomis Too. Audrey enjoys visiting schools to speak with young readers and writers. She lives with her family near the ocean in New Jersey. Visit her online at www.audreyvernick.com.

Daniel Jennewein is also the illustrator of Is Your Buffalo Ready for Kindergarten? Although he does not have a buffalo, he does have two very bratty Birman cats named Emmy and Finn. Daniel lives in Frankfurt, Germany, with his wife, Lenore.

Editorial Reviews

Some people say kindergarten is no place for a buffalo. How crazy is that?” So begins this humorous story about standing out in order to fit in. A buffalo doesn’t look, eat, or act like anyone else, but it’s his differences that make him so lovable (“who can resist that furry face?”). This story’s simple lesson about individuality is cleverly expressed through Vernick’s gentle wit and Jennewein’s crayon-outlined kindergartners--most of all, the furry and ungainly reader surrogate with whom kids will readily relate, even if “he may the only one who eats grass, then throws it up in his mouth and eats it again. Remember: Everyone’s special in his or her own way.” Ages 4-8. (July)

Publishers Weekly

This story’s simple lesson about individuality is cleverly expressed through Vernick’s gentle wit and Jennewein’s crayon-outlined kindergartners—most of all, the furry and ungainly reader surrogate with whom kids will readily relate.” — Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“As an embodiment of school anxiety, this buffalo leads the herd-plus, he’s got a hump.” — Kirkus Reviews

“Vernick’s amusing tale will prove handy as a first-day-of-school book recommendation for children and teachers alike.” — School Library Journal

“The breezy, clap-on-the-shoulder reassurance of the text is both bolstering and funny as it introduces, via buffalo, some key aspects of kindergarten experience.” — Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books

From the Publisher

The breezy, clap-on-the-shoulder reassurance of the text is both bolstering and funny as it introduces, via buffalo, some key aspects of kindergarten experience.

Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books

The breezy, clap-on-the-shoulder reassurance of the text is both bolstering and funny as it introduces, via buffalo, some key aspects of kindergarten experience.

Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

As an embodiment of school anxiety, this buffalo leads the herd-plus, he’s got a hump.

Stephanie Garber

The breezy, clap-on-the-shoulder reassurance of the text is both bolstering and funny as it introduces, via buffalo, some key aspects of kindergarten experience.

The Bulletin for the Center for Children's Books

PreS-K—As the title indicates, this is a silly book about the first day of kindergarten with one's own buffalo. The analogy here is that kids react and behave differently, and that there is a place for all of them in school. The story prompts readers to remind the buffalo that finger painting is fun and it's okay to get messy; those hooves could create a masterpiece. Buffaloes (and children) learn how to get along without using their horns. "Cooperating and taking turns are both Very Big Deals in kindergarten." This wacky picture book, with its bold cartoonlike illustrations of a buffalo that snorts, dances, and makes faces, may help apprehensive youngsters to be more at ease about going to school. "Everyone's special in his or her own way. That's the kind of thing you learn in kindergarten." Vernick's amusing tale will prove handy as a first-day-of-school book recommendation for children and teachers alike.—Lindsay Persohn, Crystal Lake Elementary, Lakeland, FL

School Library Journal