cover image Ready and Waiting for You

Ready and Waiting for You

Judi Moreillon, illus. by Catherine Stock. Eerdmans, $17 (32p) ISBN 978-0-8028-5355-4

Education is meant to open doors, and so is this inviting title written and conceived of by Moreillon, who uses a loose, repeating rhyme to welcome kids to the school day. Full-page foldouts allow readers to open various doors presented to them. “Come in. Come in./ Come in through this door./ Are you new?” asks a girl who gestures to the door of the waiting bus; opening the large flap shows the same girl and other students preparing to board the bus. Stock’s cut-paper artwork has the bright palette of a fresh box of crayons, and she makes every aspect of the school experience friendly and welcoming, from the crossing guard cheerfully working the crosswalk to a library filled with computers and books. Ages 4–7. (Aug.)