Cover Image: 1, 2, 3, Off to School!

1, 2, 3, Off to School!

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Member Reviews

Cute book. My granddaughters loved finding the characters. Great book for children just starting school.

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Pom, who is only four, heads off to explore what happens at school for their animal friends.

Mouslings are just arriving for the day when Pom gets to Nutcracker school.
At Hopalot School for rabbits, bunnies are learning to read, write and count. (I adored the rooftop garden there.)
The frogs at Cattail Academy are drawing, painting and making music.
Pom joins the foxes in their exercise program at Foxtrot School and has lunch with bears at Honeycomb School.
At Sleepytime School Pom is happy to nap with the sloths.
As the day progresses Pom visits squirrels as they learn about nature, reads with wolf pups in the library, and watches turtles tidying up. Pom visits the hedgehogs at Quill Academy after school before finally heading home.

Enchanting is the word for this picture book. Marianne Dubuc fills this book with details showing us many stories beyond Pom's own journey. It reminds me of the Richard Scary books my boys used to pore over when they were young. I'm charmed that Pom is a nongendered character. I was delighted by the fairy tale characters who showed up at the different schools.

I've already put orders in to send copies of this to my almost four year old grandkids. I think they will love the active format of this picture book. Hopefully they will enjoy poring over the many glorious details. By following along with Pom's adventures it will help them get ready for kindergarten too.

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Through all the little animal friends and the tiny conversations and busy illustrations you can learn all about many aspects of the school day. Young children starting school will enjoy exploring this book .

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1,2,3 Off to school is a story of a character too young for school who goes exploring all the ways creatures are learning. The illustrations are absolutely adorable, yet have clear forms and with bright colors are very engaging for young readers. There are lots of details on each page that is sure to capture the imagination and interest of children getting ready to go to school.

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This was one of those books that I love so much because they have more than just the story going on. There's little side stories and so much to see and read on every page! It reminded me of Richard Scarry's books.

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You know why I love to read children’s books? It’s not just because I have children, but also because it gives me a glimpse of my own childhood, though I will never get it back. This book has delighted me so much that I wonder whether I am just an overgrown child pretending to be an adult!

To begin with, the story is told in a clear and simple manner, to attract young readers. The plot is interesting, especially to preschoolers, seeking to instil confidence in them and dispel fears about going to school. It shows how much fun it is to be at school - riding on the school bus, learning to count, reading, arts, music and sports, making new friends, having lunch together and the joy of sharing. But the best part is reserved for the end- going back home and recounting the day’s adventures! That was my personal favourite- once back home, I loved to recall my day at school with much pomp and ardour.

The pictures are cute and lovely, with wonderful detail. I loved the matchstick ladder at the Nutcracker School and the paintbrushes at the Cattail Academy, to name a few. I hope my kids discover the allusions at the Once-Upon-a-Time Academy too!

As a toddler, I used to pester my mom to send me to school with my elder sister. However, my eldest son was so frightened of going to school that he cried every morning for months. Now my second one is ready for kindergarten, and I am definitely going to read this book to him everyday, to show him how school can be fun!

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Thanks to Kids Can Press + NetGalley for the advance copy of "1,2,3 Off to School!" by Marianne Dubuc, translated by Yvette Ghione.

There is something utterly charming about "1,2,3 Off to School" that cannot be summed up in words - this is a book that is meant to be savored in rereadings - each time finding new animals, items, and activities for everyone to enjoy at school. Perfect for PreK and K kiddos.

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A fun, optimistic book that shows real feelings about all the exciting things at school! Loved the illustrations! Very much reminded me of Richard Scary books!

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Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an electronic copy to read and review.

This book is just adorable! It is reminds me a lot of Richard Scarry books from when I was growing up. There are so many cute scenes with a ton to look at and talk about. As a mom of a kiddo who really really wants to go to school, but has a year to wait I know this book will be perfect to read with him!

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A cute story about going to school. Pom is too young for kindergarten but that’s exactly where Pom wants to be. To see what school has to offer Pom visits all the different nearby schools. My kids really enjoyed this! It had so much going on and it was constantly grabbing their attention with all the dialogue. The illustrations were also really great to see. We found this book really interesting and it was a great read for my preschooler who will be starting Kindergarten soon. This would be a great story for all kids entering school!

I voluntarily reviewed this after receiving a free copy.

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1,2,3, Off to School! by Marianne Dubuc is a sweet adorable tale of Pom, a child who is eager for the first day of kindergarten. . . the only problem is that Pom is still a year away from starting kindergarten. So Pom decides to spend the day visiting the schools of his animal friends. He visits ten different schools including The Nutcracker School for mice, Hopalot School for rabbits, Cattail Academy for frogs, Foxtrot School for foxes, Honeycomb School for bears, Sleepytime School for sloths, Lookout Heights School for squirrels, Once Upon A Time Academy for wolves, Slow & Steady School for turtles, and Quill Elementary for hedgehogs. I really enjoyed seeing the different school buildings, their furniture, and their school supplies. I also liked the inclusion of the storybook characters like Red Riding Hood, Golldilocks, and Snow White. There were also sheep, pigs, and and even a hare in the turtle school. The illustrations were all so cute and I can see many re-reads and discussion that can take place as one reads this book to pre-school age children. I think this would also be appropriate for kindergarten teachers to read aloud to a class during the first week of school.

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This book shows a little girl wandering through her yard, watching all the different small animals going to school! Bunnies going under the carrots in the garden to sit at school. Frogs sitting on the lilli pads, ready to listen to the teacher. This would be wonderful for your child who is starting school, or to be read in the classroom during the first week.

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ARC Copy...just like her other books, very beautiful and full of miniature details that are to delight the younglings and adults during reading time. I did like that as the protagonists find out too that every animal has their own social culture and approach to schooling like the wolves love story time and sloths love nap times.

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I got this on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review!

A cute picture book about preparing for School! Loved to see how and what the animals do when it goes to School! I also think this is useful for pre-school pupils when it comes to getting to know the school environment and deal with their curiositites and fears surrounding starting School!

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I loved this book! I love this author's other work and there is so much to look at in this book. The detail is amazing. The story follows Pom, in the year before starting kindergarten. Pom is so excited about this and enjoys hearing all about the fun that the different animals have at school and so decides to check it all out a year early. Pom visits the different schools throughout the day and then goes home to tell Momo all about the best bits.

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A great book, with lovely illustrations which centres around Pom that is so excited to start school even though she has another year!
Perfect book to read to children who are due to start school.

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1, 2, 3, Off to School! by Marianne Dubuc followed the adventures of a pre-kindergarten girl, Pom, who was eager to go to school. As she was not yet old enough, Pom joined in the adventures of ten of her animal friends. Each type of animal had their own individual school learning lessons tailored to them. The sloth's sleeping lessons, the bunny field trip to the carrot farm, and the sharing of the honey by the bears were all especially endearing. The illustrations and text gave much visual interest. The personification of the animals in their various activities was absolutely magical. This charming book will get your own little one excited for their school days to begin while teaching them essential character traits to prepare them for being part of a classroom with different children.

I was provided a free advance reader copy in exchange for my honest review from Net Galley. The opinions shared in this review are my own.

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This is a fun book to get kids excited for starting school. It really frames it in a fun way and is an inclusive book that shows all the things to look forward to when going to school.
Many thanks to Kids Can Press and NetGalley for the advance copy.

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Pom can't wait to start school. so for a taste she goes and visits all her animal friends in their schools! I adore Marianne Dubuc's style of illustration. It is just so charming and full layers of fun details. This is a great book for a child who is maybe nervous about going to school to see all the fun school can be!

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Hmmm… A book that could be used to generate interest in going to school in the reluctant, but things get in the way of my recommendation. Pom the human is so eager to get to school s/he actually joins in on the first day of all the animals' school years – witnessing the mice gather and burn off energy before the first class, looking in on reading time here, noting outdoors activities with the squirrels, maths for the carrot-fixated rabbits, and so on. Visually, these are conveyed well, with a different kind of school layout for every location, and each to their own double-page spread, but what I didn't like was the text. The bulk of the writing is captions that vocalise all the chatter of the critters, and it all got a little too much, listening in on over a dozen interior monologues each page, presented as speech bubbles but without the bubbles. Also it's damned annoying the book that should be used to show the fun merit of schools off, and nothing else, is forced to socially engineer the "they" pronoun down our throats – while at the same time the uber-'woke' book has the audacity to make a virtue of exclusionary things like gifting things to the teacher on day one. I would hope someone in need of a pro-school lesson in book forms succeeds in their quest, for I would not wish them to only have this as an option.

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