Miss Bindergarten Gets Ready for Kindergarten

As a school librarian, I think a copy of this delightful book should be in the home of every in-coming kindergartner and in every elementary school library, and every kindergarten room should have the entire series. Author Joe Slate and illustrator Ashley Wolff have created a kindergarten classic! The book has several facets - the alphabet, rhyming text, a teacher's tasks, and students' feelings. Miss Bindergarten (a border collie) has 26 students (each a different animal), and their names start with the 26 letters of the alphabet. The action alternates between Miss B's vigorous efforts to get her classroom ready, and the attitudes of the 26 children as they prepare for their new experience. There are examples of every feeling - Danny Hess rushes to dress, Fran Lister kisses her sister, and Ian Lowe says "I won't go!" The story is warm and wonderful, the illustrations are gorgeous, and the book is so rich in amusing details that it will be read and re-read many times. Thank you, Mr. Slate and Ms Wolff!

Such a fun book! It shows Miss Bindergarten starting with her class all in disarray and how she is preparing for the first day. We got this book and started reading about a month before school started. When I took my daughter to her Kindergarten preview night the teacher was just getting started with the classroom set up so it was kind of a mess. My husband and I were a little worried because the other kindergarten classrooms were all neat and complete and student ready. My girl looked around at the chaos and shouted "Mom! It's just like Miss Bindergarten!" Seriously, it was fantastic. Her soon-to-be teacher overheard and showed us she too had the book! It's a wonderful book!

I've loved this book since I was a child (20 years ago, ha!). It does a great job of showing different emotions on the first day of school. Some kids are nervous, others excited. It validates kid's feelings in a fun, casual way :) The pictures are really engaging and the book is pretty quick to read. You can get through it in less than 10 minutes. It's also good for all ages, preschool and up.

Nice book for the kids

My daughter is starting Kindergarten in Sept. I got this book in the beginning of August. She loves it so much, we read it every night and i am sure we will continue to read it every night until school starts...and beyond! I do love that it does not mention anxiety or being anxious, since my daughter has not expressed being anxious and I did not want a book giving her that idea. We love that at the end of the book there is a "class roster" naming all of the kis (animals) in the class! Very cute and my daughter loves the rhyming in the book.

I purchased at least 10 "kindergarten" themed books to try to ease my daughter's fears this summer. This is the one she consistenly asks for. She thoroughly enjoys the illustrations, and finds new details each time we read it. We have to read the class photo list at the end of the book every time, and last night before bed I heard her murmuring some of their names. LOL She really connects to these simple little characters, and I think they remind her of students she knew in Pre-K, who she won't be seeing again this Fall. We liked this so much, I also purchased "Miss Bindergarten Has a Wild Day in Kindergarten" and that is the new favorite. I'm very glad they kept the same cast of students she was familiar with. I personally thought all the books I purchased were adorable, but if you can only get one, I would start with this one.

I think this book is charming, and my younger child loves the animal illustrations. But my kindergartener isn't interested in it, and now that he has actually started kindergarten, I can guess one possible reason why: the classroom shown in the book bears ZERO resemblance to his kindergarten room. Where we live, kindergarten in the public schools isn't about toys and art and dramatic play. It's about desks and workbooks. So the classroom in the book shows my son everything he misses from pre-K. In his shoes, I think I would hate this book for that reason. And as a parent, this book makes me all the more unhappy about his real kindergarten. This is not the book's fault, of course, but it's a small lesson in unintended consequences for me as a parent.

We love Miss Bindergarten and all of her class. However, we're very disappointed that only this book was printed in the USA while the rest of the books about Miss Bindergarten's class were printed in China. Ongoing problems with toxic inks and dyes, among other things, mean that we can't be certain that anything manufactured in the PRC is safe for children.

I love this book. An easy, light handed, rhyming introduction to the idea of going to school for the first time. I can serve as a good conversation starter. It also serves as a subtle alphabet book focusing on a cast of animal characters and the preparation of getting to school and the teacher readying the space rather than the letters themselves. Playful, colorful illustrations. Depending on the individual child's level and experience...i.e. if they've been in pre-k or pre-school it might be a bit simple but I find it charming none the less.

Good book

Someone recommended this book as a good one to read to children about to enter kindergarten, so I bought it for my daughter. The illustrations are beautiful, and the story is cute! There are many different animals, each starting with a letter of the alphabet. I love that it also shows how much work kindergarten teachers put into preparing for their students. My husband commented that it is an American book because it shows students going to school for the first time in fall, as opposed to spring in Japan, but I wouldn't have noticed that. It is a wonderful book!

I reread this book to my class over the year. They love it! Considering buying a second copy for a student held book. Maybe second hand

Story holds my son's attention and he loves the rhyming. I wish it had a little more depth to it, but it will still be a fun read for him for a while.