When U Go to Kindergtn

Howe, who wrote The Hospital Book, puts the first year of school into a clear context that is at once familiar and reassuring to would-be kindergartners. Using various schools, teachers, classrooms and ""other kids,'' the book addresses notions so simple that some adults would overlook them: who will help children cross streets when their parents aren't around (a safety-patrol guard); how will they know which classroom they're supposed to be in; what will the bathrooms look like; how muchor how littlewill the other kids know. The photographs are suitably straightforward; school still looks like a brand-new experience, but a fun one. For all those normal fears and questions, this book has the answers, and gets them right. (4-5)