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Synopsis
Who's the smartest person in the first grade? When the teacher hands out a test, everybody can't wait to find out. But only lucky Anna Maria does well enough to move to a special class. Is getting the best grade all that matters?
Children's Literature
In this era of "No child left behind," The Test looms large in children's lives. When The Test arrives in the first grade classroom, Anna Maria is eager to find out how smart she is. Each child in the class sees a question in a different, creative way that frequently has nothing to do with the "correct" answer. So when the time is up, no one but Anna Maria has finished. When Anna Maria is then moved to a special class, the other children call each other "dummy." Their teacher tries to reassure them, to show them how well they are working together and learning. Meanwhile, Anna Maria stops by to visit, watch, and comment. Finally she decides that first grade "needs" her, (or that she needs them,) and their teacher is glad to have everyone together again. Himler's watercolors depict the children and teacher in a minimum setting. His line really creates the characters, showing the various emotions of the youngsters as they sweat out the test and the discomfiting results. On one double page, unhappy boys scream at each other while young Margaret watches in bewilderment; back in the classroom really learning, they concentrate on weighing cookies on a balance scale. Much food for thought about what education is in a simple story.