Last Day Blues

Danneberg, Julie. Last Day Blues. Illustrated by Judy Love. Charlesbridge, 2006. ISBN: 1-58089-046-6. $16.95. Ages 4-10

The book Last Day Blues by Julie Danneberg chronicles the last week of school for Mrs. Hartwell’s class. Throughout the last week of school each day that passes makes the students bring up different things that they are all going to miss, so all the students think that Mrs. Hartwell is going to nothing but miss them and think about the past school over the summer. The students feel like they need to do something to cheer her up. Every time she says that she is going to miss something it makes the students think of things they are going to miss and this continues for the entire week.
The book covers all the basics of everything that goes on during the last week of school. In a poem that the kids write for their teacher there is a specific rhyme scheme in which each line has the same ending sound. The pictures are very colorful and catch the reader's eye by the use of well illustrated pictures and how the school yard looks and how kids remember it. The entire storyline keeps the reader's attention.
I recommend this book for children of all ages. I think that they would enjoy it and if they have experienced the last week of school firsthand and could probably go back and see that their class may have went through the same emotions and thought processes.

Jennifer Schultz, BGSU student