Emily Arnold McCully's SCHOOL is the winner of a CALDECOTT MEDAL and originally was published without text. Now the book has a few sentences of explanation which are at the 1st Grade Reading level. Accelerated Reading level: 1.0

Given the vagaries of buying books there's no telling which version you will receive. But either is enjoyable, and for little ones they can still 'read' the book as it was intended --without text.

The story is cute. The first pages show a passel of young mice in the kitchen getting ready for school. If you have the text version all you will see is the text: "School Time!"

**SPOILERS** **SPOILERS**
The following pages have all the little mice heading off to school with their books and backpacks... all but Bitty. And Bitty mouse doesn't like it at all. And so she sneaks out to follow her siblings. When she gets to school everyone is busy, but of course the teacher doesn't leave her outside. She enters and watches all the classroom activities. And when the teacher finds her getting restless, she asks Bitty to be her helper.

And Bitty does help, but while occupied the teacher calls mom to let her know what is going on. And by the time mom gets there, Bitty is tired and ready to go home.

**END OF SPOILERS**

Children will enjoy the cute artwork in this book and the fact that it has lots of mice! The simple sentences are there for practicing, but the original text-less use is still valid as it's great practice for youngsters to gather their thoughts and explain what they think is happening.

Source: Library ( )

The title of the book explains it all. Usually when you have an older sibling who goes to school a few years before you, you get curious. Well, in this book, curiosity kills the mouse (no pun intended, and the mouse did not die). A little mouse gets curious when his older siblings run off to school and he wants to see what it's all about. This book is a wordless book that takes you on a journey to school with a baby mouse. I would read this book to my class to make them put words to the story and use their imagination. ( )

This picture book has no words. This book has very colorful and great illustrations. It helps the readers jump into the school setting of a story. The fall colors are beautiful and bring the story together. The story is wordless and helps the readers create their own imagination in creating their own story and observe the pictures. ( )

A wordless text that she redid to include text. Not terribly strong either way, especially considering it's McCully. Still good for a beginner audience. The younger mouse follows her older siblings to school one day. Not bad. ( )

Picture book with no words. A little mouse sneaks off to school behind her older siblings, she is too young for school still. She takes an empty seat in the back of the class and starts to participate in answering the math problems. The teacher calls this mouse to the front of the class. Then calls the Momma mouse, during story time the mouse falls asleep and then Momma mouse comes looking for this mouse. Then Momma mouse comes to get her and she seems happy to have found her, and they go home. ( )