Mr. Wolf’s Class

Readers of this congenial graphic novel by Eisner Award–winning Steinke (The Zoo Box) will settle right into Mr. Wolf’s classroom as the new teacher and his animal students get to know each other. Steinke’s panel artwork presents multiple points of view, juggling Mr. Wolf’s anxiousness to have the first day go right with his student Penny’s disappearance (kept up all night by her family’s new baby, she falls asleep in a box in the library), the grouchy responses of Aziza (a duck who appears to be on the autism spectrum), and the fast friendship that grows between Sampson and Margaret as they sit together on the bus. The animals are drawn in clear lines and full color with just enough detail to make each one an individual. Classroom jargon adds to the genuine flavor (“Level-one voices in the hallway!” Mr. Wolf calls); all of it will be familiar to students of suburban American schools. Without big highs and lows—the only suspense is whether they’ll find Penny or not—the story offers calming reading during spare moments waiting for practice to be over, or for the bus to come. Ages 7–10. [em]Agent: Judith Hansen, Hansen Literary Management. (June) [/em]