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|---|---|---|
Searching... Park Grove Library (Cottage Grove) | EASY READER WEL | Searching... Unknown |
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Summary
Summary
Yoko simply can't wait for her first day of school. She wants to make new friends, feed the goldfish, and string a necklace of colored beads. But Yoko doesn't want Mama to leave! What is she never returns?
Author Notes
Rosemary Wells was born in New York City on January 29, 1943. She studied at the Museum School in Boston. Without her degree, she left school at the age of 19 to get married. She began her career in publishing, working as an art editor and designer first at Allyn and Bacon and later at Macmillan Publishing.
She is an author and illustrator of over 60 books for children and young adults. Her first book was an illustrated edition of Gilbert and Sullivan's I Have a Song to Sing-O. Her other works include Martha's Birthday, The Fog Comes on Little Pig Feet, Unfortunately Harriet, Mary on Horseback, and Timothy Goes to School. She also created the characters of Max and Ruby, Noisy Nora, and Yoko, which are featured in some of her books. She has won numerous awards including a Children's Book Council Award for Noisy Nora in 1974, the Edgar Allan Poe award for two young adult books, Through the Looking Glass and When No One Was Looking, and the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award for Shy Charles.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (3)
School Library Journal Review
PreS-Gr 2-These books feature the same characters and setting as Wells's Yoko (Hyperion, 1998). Mama, Don't Go is especially enjoyable. Yoko is eager to begin school. She looks forward to meeting new friends, learning songs, and enjoying all of the activities in Mrs. Jenkins's classroom. She does enjoy it, except that she cannot bear to be separated from her mother, who agrees to stay. This continues until the fourth day, her mom's birthday, and, with the teacher's guidance, Yoko agrees to let her mother leave and return for a surprise at the end of the day. By Friday, the kitten is ready to be on her own, with a little help from a new friend. Wells and Wheeler's expressive animal characters, done in pen and ink and watercolors, convey a great deal of recognizable emotion. Yoko is a prim little cat; her large green eyes alternately crinkle with worry or shine with curiosity. In the final image, she looks as relaxed as her confident friend, Timothy. In The School Play, when Mrs. Jenkins assigns parts about dental hygiene, everyone is happy except Yoko-she is cast as an unglamorous cavity that just sits on stage and is silent. However, she finds a way to make her role more interesting. Though the story is a bit slight, these characters are as charming and winsome as ever. Both books are well crafted for beginning readers, or as read-alouds for young children preparing for school.-Marilyn Taniguchi, Beverly Hills Public Library, CA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
The favorite feline stars in Rosemary Wells's Yoko & Friends School Days series, which debuts with two titles, Mama, Don't Go! and The School Play, illus. by Jody Wheeler. In the first, Yoko won't let Mama leave the classroom until her classmate gives her courage. In the second, an unhappy Yoko is assigned the role of the cavity in the class play about dental hygiene, but an inspired idea creates sweet success. Simple text and familiar fuzzy-faced characters soothe the school-age set. (Sept.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Horn Book Review
Yoko comes to school for career week announcing that she wants to be a teacher when she grows up; she brings valuable Japanese dolls (her "students") with her. The dolls disappear overnight but reappear the next day. This easy reader, illustrated in Wells's style, is less obviously moralistic than others in the series but more jarring because it has two distinct plots and no satisfying resolution to either. From HORN BOOK Spring 2002, (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
