The Exceptionally, Extraordinarily Ordinary First Day of School

When the librarian asks a new student about his old school, John describes a place full of wild characters and even wilder adventures. Inside the castle-like building, teachers eat students, animals run rampant, history class involves a time machine, and the field trips are out of this world. Bordering each page are often hilarious “definitions” of items featured in Lorenz’s frenetic scenes (“School bus—A terror-filled nightmare on wheels.... Life only gets worse from here on out”), which are sprinkled with speech bubbles. There’s a dizzying amount of text and art on each spread—no shortage of fodder for readers whose tastes gravitate toward the strange and surreal. Ages 6–9. (Aug.)