School Library Journal
K-Gr 1-Celebrating this milestone has become popular in the last few years, and Rockwell turns her attention to this event. On the first day of school, Jessica's teacher gives her a penny to drop in the jar on her desk. A different student brings in a coin each day to add to it. Counting by 10 is reinforced whenever the jar reaches a number divisible by 10, since the student bringing in the penny that day also gets to bring in a special collection of items celebrating that number. Rockwell's realistically rendered illustrations are drenched in color, creating a warm and inviting classroom and familial spaces. The book ends with the children seated at circle time, their teacher holding up a newspaper with the headline "Hurricane Hannah Hits" and a comment that all the local schools are sending their jars of 100 pennies to a town damaged by the storm. While the story will be well received in primary classrooms and by parents looking to reinforce the math concepts, the sudden introduction of the hurricane at the end of the book is a bit jarring. That quibble aside, this title can hold its own against Margery Cuyler's 100th Day Worries (S & S, 2000) and Joseph Slate's Miss Bindergarten Celebrates the 100th Day of Kindergarten (Dutton, 1998).-Lisa Gangemi Kropp, Middle Country Public Library, Centereach, NY Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.
Kirkus Reviews
Celebrating the 100th day of school has become a ritual in the US, and Rockwell (Becoming Butterflies, p. 107, etc.) gives it a somewhat flat, if good-hearted tribute in this addition to the short list of titles on the subject. Mrs. Madoff's class starts the countdown by dropping a penny in a jar for each day of school. At each interval of 10, each child brings in a little something special: 10 balloons, 20 matchbox cars, 30 leaves, 70 sunflower seeds, 80 Popsicle sticks. Finally, they reach the 100 mark, everyone brings in 100 yummy things, and they decide to send their $1 to aid hurricane victims; who is going to quibble with that thoughtful gesture? But there are other problems afoot, mostly concerned with the flat tone of the art and story. The illustrations are sweet but bland, and totally lacking in personality. The text is blander still. The narrator brings in 10 balloons to mark Day 10: "Then Sam and I took them to the principal's office. She said, 'Thank you! These are beautiful!' " It's not easy to make something lighter than air feel so wooden, but perhaps it comes from trying to make a point. (Picture book. 3-6)
