Teachers and What They Do

Bright, thickly painted colors and a friendly cast of young students help familiarize first-time school-goers with teachers. Sleger’s images alternate between full-page scenes of a smiling teacher interacting with students and smaller images that show details about school activities. Translated from the Dutch, some of Slegers’s phrases can be halting and awkward (“Our teacher wears regular clothes, not a uniform. And that is how it should be, that’s how we like her best”), but the underlying concepts, meant to help readers gently transition into their student roles, are straightforward, soothing, and helpful. Ages 2–5. (May)