“That’s just it. I don’t know anybody, and it will be hard and…I just hate it, that’s all.”
Genre: Fiction
In this colorful and relatable tale, Mr. Hartwell is trying to convince Sarah to get out of bed and get ready for her first day in a new school. Sarah resists because she doesn’t want to start over and is afraid of the new/unfamiliar environment. Eventually, he convinces her to go anyway and drops her off at the school, where it is revealed that she is not a student but actually a teacher.
There are several illustrations in the book that add to the surprising twist at the end and the feeling of anxiety. For one, her room is shown to be a mess as she dresses haphazardly. In a way, this represents her jumbled mix of emotions. Then there’s the page when she sees the school for the first time. It is drawn as a dark and foreboding building that is casting a dark shadow over her and the car. When Mrs. Burton leads her through the halls, there is a crowd of students that creates an almost claustrophobic feeling.
The story is also told from Sarah’s perspective, so the reader never actually sees her face until the very end when it is revealed to her class that she will be their new teacher. This clever storytelling decision makes the audience believe that she is another student suffering from fear when in fact she is an adult. This is an important message to give to children because it shows them that their teachers and other adults also feel fear.
The Grand Adventure 