Customer Reviews

A Fine, Fine School

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

An exuberent principal at a small school is the crucial element of this hilarious book. The principal, in awe of the schools "fine-fineness" decides to have school on Saturdays..then on Sundays as well. Soon there is school on all holidays, vacations and breaks. School hours are extended, lunchtimes/recess is shortened. But the students have no time to spend with family. What will they do? With hilarious illustrations, and a humorous plot, this book yields to deep belly laughs by both kids and adults. If you have a child between the ages of 6 and 16, I strongly reccomend that this book be on your shelves. It reminds you that it could ALWAYS get worse!

Tillie is a little red haired girl who lives with her parents, brother and dog, Bean. She goes to school every day and learns about math and reading and all sorts of important things. But on weekends, she spends her time at home, learning to climb the big tree in her yard, teaching her brother to skip and her dog to fetch. Mr Keene is a principal who loves his school. He's so proud of the students and teachers and all the good work they do. "Aren't these fine children? Aren't these fine teachers? Isn't this a fine, fine school?" In fact he's so excited about his school and all the fine, fine learning that goes on there that he decides the kids and teachers should have more school and adds Saturday to their week. No one wanted to go to school on Saturdays, but they didn't want to disappoint Mr Keene since he was so proud of them. Pretty soon, Mr Keene added Sundays and then holidays. No one was happy, but they went along. When he really went over the top and added summers too, Tillie decided to pay him a little visit..... Award winning author, Sharon Creech, has written a delightful story that will tickle the funny bone of all youngsters getting ready to go back to school. Her gentle, humorous text is only outdone by Harry Bliss' very clever and expressive artwork and children will enjoy all the special little details they find as they pore over the illustrations (marvelous facial expressions, posted notes, book titles, school banners...) Perfect for youngsters 4-8, A Fine, Fine School is a treasure and a wonderful addition to all home bookshelves.

Author Sharon Creech uses simple sentences in bold type to make this children's picturebook all the more emphatic, while the iconic artwork adds warmth and humor to the story. An overzealous principal feels that he runs such a "fine, fine school" that classes should extend to weekends, holidays, summer, and night... putting the overworked schoolchildren in a bind. It's up to Tille to show her well-intentioned principal that there are other places for a young person to be that are just as important. A Fine, Fine School is a spry and funny book that makes for lively reading.

Every time I read this book, I can't help but think of the testing frenzy our educational system is in today. The well-meaning principal of a "fine, fine, school" drums up ways that the school can be better and more successful. So? They start attending school on weekends. And then holidays. And on and on, until finally no one has any time for anything other than school. As a resource teacher, I have read this book to teaching staffs to get ready for the testing season. It effectively points out the absurdities of our current system and reminds us of the fact that our job is not to churn out single-minded drones, but rather to help build fully realized human beings. It's very easy to lose sight of that when you begin to gauge all that you do on a single test in the spring. Simply put, all our eggs are in one basket...and maybe not best basket, either. Kids and adults will love the story line as well as all the smaller jokes found in the illustrations.

Chris Bowen
Author of, "Our Kids: Building Relationships in the Classroom"
(search the book....check it out)

This book was recently read to me at a teachers' conference. The real message in the story is that learning doesn't only happen in school--it happens everywhere! What a wake up call to parents and guardians!

I love this book!

The characters and illustrations in this book develop a fun and entertaining story which carries the theme "too much of a good thing can be a bad thing." In this case, the "thing" is school. The Principal of Tillie's school has decided to increase learning by continually adding days to the school year. Tillie finds a way to gently convince her Principal that although school is a wonderful place for students to learn, there are some things they need to learn and participate in away from school.

This book has loveable and relatable characters as well as charming and informative illustrations that clearly come together to display that too much of a good thing can indeed be a bad thing. Even though there is a clear lesson to be learned, the story is also very humorous and entertaining by itself. This is a great book to read to--or be read by--young elementary students and enjoyed for years to come.

I purchased this book to use in my fourth grade class to help my students with writing. This is a book that the students can relate to... something sounds good until you have too much of it!

This book is a great book to ease the stress of the first day of school. It has a great repetitive text for kids learning to read and it is a humorous story so even the picky reader will enjoy it.

"I think this book is a good book because the principal was making them go to school on Saturdays, Sundays, and in the summer. So then somebody told him that they were miserable, so he kept it at 5 days--not on holidays, not on the summer. Now I am okay for going on Saturday and Sunday, but holidays and no summer, that's wrong. If we went to school on Saturday and Sunday, we would get more summer--I agree!"

I am a teacher, and this book is a cute book to read at the end of the school year. The message is that even if you go to the best school in the world, there are things to learn and do outside of school. Therefore, weekends and summers are as necessary as the school year.