School Spirits

One child’s school scaries manifest as mischievous ghosts in this spirited spin on facing first-day fears. “What if classes are too tough,/ with loads of tests and tricky stuff?/ The question troubling you the most... / What if—yikes!—/ your school’s got ghosts?” So churns the anxiety of a brown-skinned child imagining what could go wrong at school. The worries seem to portend plenty when, upon arrival, “a strange mist flows./ The sky is swarmed by cawing crows.” Additional evidence of haunting resolves into an interpersonal solution: bravely talking to new classmates. Using this tactic, the protagonist recruits peers to get the raucous ghosts in line by modeling best behavior and embracing the ghosts’ “awesome energy” as school spirit. A limited palette of black, gray, red, and white gives off a retro vibe suited to scenes of rosy cheeked human students, portrayed with various skin tones, enjoying story time with a group of attentive ravens and hovering ghosts. Channeling nervous energy into positive vibes, this offers a jolly relational game plan for tackling new-school-year jitters. Ages 4–8. (July)