Follow the Line to School

by Laura Ljungkvist

Overview

Follow the line from the science corner to the library, from recess to show-and-tell. This new Follow the Line book-illustrated in Laura Ljungkvist's signature line style-takes children on a colorful, comforting, and altogether fun romp through the school day. With its unique modern design and engaging interactive text, Follow the Line to School is sure to appeal to both new and returning students.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781101642788
Publisher:	Penguin Young Readers Group
Publication date:	07/07/2011
Sold by:	Penguin Group
Format:	eBook
Pages:	32
File size:	20 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Laura Ljungkvist is a Swedish artist whose editorial work has appeared in The New York and Harper's Bazaar.  This is her third book for children.  She now lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Editorial Reviews

Fourth in Ljungkvist's Follow the Line series, this outing takes readers on a tour of a school, as a black line forms words and objects in bright scenes with crisp collages and lots of prompts to engage children. The line trails into "the science corner," where readers learn a bit about animals, before heading into a modish library, the art room ("Which pictures on the wall are made from cut paper?"), the cafeteria, and outdoors for recess. Ljungkvist covers all the basic elements of an ordinary school day, and the story's interactive elements highlight the underlying message about the joys of learning. Ages 4–up. (July)

Publishers Weekly

PreS-Gr 2—This book has all of the ingredients for "dialogic reading." It is practically a user's guide for how an adult and child can engage in conversation while reading together. As with Ljungkvist's other "Follow the Line" books, it takes readers through a familiar setting—school—and asks youngsters to find, count, or reply to prompts, such as, "Fred is the class pet. Can you guess what kind of animal he is?" The answers aren't always as easy as they might seem. This particular book is great for familiarizing pre-kindergarteners with all of the possibilities of an engaging school environment, or for talking about similarities and differences between the artist's images and a child's current institution. As readers follow the line from page to page, they encounter areas that may be confined to a classroom, or may have separate quarters, such as the art, music, and eating areas. The clever mixed-media artwork is brimming with familiar artifacts and tools, yet Ljungkvist's clean-cut Scandinavian style and simplicity of composition keep the pages from being visually overwhelming.—Maggie Chase, Boise State University, ID

School Library Journal

Readers will actively explore an elementary school environment in this latest in Ljungkvist's successful string of books.

Beginning on the front cover and ending on the back, an uninterrupted black line leads readers through the front doors of a school, into and around a classroom, to the library, art and music rooms, cafeteria and playground and, finally, back out the door at the end of the day. Along the way, three questions on each spread prompt children to really think about what they may see, do and learn at school and give them a chance to show off what they already know. On the cafeteria page they are asked to name all the fruits they see, while the music-room spread challenges them to sort instruments according to how they make their sounds. Opportunities abound to identify numbers, shapes, letters, animals and colors within the artwork—a busy collaged mix of photos, cut paper, found objects and drawings. The titular line snakes and weaves through it all, cleverly forming words, numbers, furniture, animals, playground equipment and objects. Even without the seek-and-find and line-following games, there is plenty here to keep readers' attention—and to allay at least a few concerns about what school will be like.

While the small details preclude group sharing, this is just right for sharing with one or two soon-to-be-schoolers or for independent browsing of the stylish illustrations.(Picture book. 4-7)

Kirkus Reviews