Oliver and His Alligator by Paul Schmid (review)

Little Oliver is so nervous about starting school that he takes along an obliging alligator, "just in case things got rough." The boy is quickly overwhelmed at school when "a lady who wasn't his mom" asks him his name, so he tells the alligator, "Munch, munch!" and down the alligator's hatch goes the teacher. When a fellow classmate introduces herself, Oliver wants to reply but can only manage, "Munch, munch!" and the girl goes the way of the teacher. This process is repeated with the remaining students until Oliver is alone with his (now extremely rotund) reptile. "School is maybe kind of a little boring," thinks Oliver, until he realizes that it's happily going on without him, inside the alligator. With a final "Munch, munch!" Oliver joins his class, and the final spread shows him apparently not inside the alligator at all, but running to join his classmates at play. (A small picture on the closing verso reveals the alligator, a stuffed toy, tucked into Oliver's bed.) This is an entertaining guide to the topic of school anxiety, and many children may feel empowered by the thought of a protective alligator pal who can simply swallow up any slightly scary obstacles. Schmid's simple, succinct text perfectly partners with his modestly elegant art, in which carefully composed pastel pencil drawings are colored digitally using a minimal palette of soft pastels. Share this in the days leading up to the start of school or in those first few days in the classroom.