100 School Days

Mrs. Madoff's class is counting pennies — one for every day of school. When they get to 10 pennies, they know they've been going to school for 10 days. What will happen when they get to 100? How will they celebrate Day 100, and what will they do with their 100 pennies?

The students in Mrs. Madoff's class keep track of the days they have been in school, marking each interval of ten, until they reach 100 days.

Mrs. Madoff's class is counting pennies — one for every day of school. When they get to 10 pennies, they know they've been going to school for 10 days. What will happen when they get to 100? How will they celebrate Day 100, and what will they do with their 100 pennies?

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.

Anne and Lizzy Rockwell have collaborated on all the Mrs. Madoff books and Who Lives in an Alligator Hole? Anne is the author of Brendan and Belinda and the Slam Dunk!; Why Are the Ice Caps Melting?; and Only Passing Through: The Story of Sojourner Truth. Lizzy is the author-illustrator of Good Enough to Eat; The Busy Body Book; and Hello Baby! Both Anne and Lizzy live in Connecticut.