Review of ‘My First Day at School’

Written by Meredith Costain and illustrated by Michelle Macintosh

Age Range: Early childhood – lower primary

Themes: starting school, excitement, nerves, new experiences, verse, poetry, visual literacy.

We line up at the door

with all the other families . . .

I shake off Mum’s hand and run

inside to play.

Children’s books are a fabulous way to introduce new experiences such as starting school or going back to school. Books are a way of entering the world of the classroom from the safety of a bedroom or the lap of a loved parent or grandparent.

So I was so pleased to be able to attend the launch of ‘My First Day at School’ at the StoryArts festival. Author Meredith Costain and illustrator Michelle Macintosh have clearly spent some time observing children on their first day of school if the range of emotions and experiences captured in both verse and illustrations in ‘My First Day at School’ are anything to by!

Meredith has penned a series of poems suitable for a young audience which build the narrative to tell the story of four children – Ari and Amira, Zach and Zoe – as they meet their teacher, make friends and laugh their way through their first day at school.

The poems are full of literary devices such as onomatopoeia, similes, alliteration and assonance, which will please parents and teachers and not be noticed at all by young children, who will just enjoy the sound and the rhythm of the words; the way it should be! The illustrations are gentle, warm, humorous and support and extend the text as all good illustrations should.

‘My First Day at School’ is a gorgeous peep inside a prep classroom and would make the perfect Christmas present for any little ones you have starting out at school in the new year.

‘My First Day at School’ Book Launch

As I mentioned earlier, the launch for this fab book was held at the equally fab StoryArts Festival. At the launch Year 1/2 students from Tivoli State School performed some of the key scenes from the book while older students narrated the action. Segments included leaving teary parents at the classroom door, meeting new friends – and making it to the toilet in time! The performance was directed by the Year 1/2 class teacher from Tivoli – the very talented Janet De Witt.

These photographs have been used with permission and are by the talented Julie Langlands of Aspire Photographics