Not a book I’d have chosen to read to my 4 year old incoming Kindergarten child. It was a bit above him, showed behavior that isn’t modeling good choices, and the relationship between kid and parent is poor. Rhyming was lovely, making it easy to read, but otherwise it was relatable to today’s society what with binge watching and video game addiction. Thanks for the opportunity to read!

An enjoyable story about a lizard that wants to stay home and all the things he does to try to make that happen.

Very strong early reader featuring a kid so ignorant of the benefits of school and schoolfriends he just wants to stay home all day, claiming to miss his parents (when they're out at work anyway). The daftness of his motives aside, this must be a problem for there to need a book to help solve it, and I can't think of much better than this – I am always keen to flag up the book that does more than needed to be a success, and this is in rhyming narrative. OK, it might stumble on rhythm and line length here and there, but the verse is generally strong, and really adds to the readability – and dare I suggest re-readability? – of this achievement. Colourful, and very useful, and as I say showing more effort than was strictly demanded – those are the kind of things that take five stars before I've managed to give them.

A cute read about a lizard that didn't want to go to school. I loved that there were tips for parents and educators at the back. This is a common problem for many children and its nice to have an understandable story that helps address that.

The thought about trying to teach kids about separation anxiety in a way they can understand is great.

What I didn’t like was the amount of times the parents allowed him to give in to his fears - it created a bad habit and not one I would want my kids to know they could lean on if they feel discomfort.

Story ended well, message was nice but I think it has a little bit of a mixed message.

I received a copy of this book through Netgalley. This is my honest review.

This is a rhyming story about a young lizard that doesn't want to go to school. I have a little lizard that also seems to never want to go to school, and much like Jasper, she will not tell me why, but makes up stories about feeling sick. In this story, Jasper learns to enjoy school by making a friend on the school bus and getting a morning job from the teacher, and also being allowed to take a toy from home as long as he doesn't take it out in class. I was hopeful that this story might give me some ideas for what to do for my lizard, but the one thing that is actually feasible, has been forbidden by her teacher's because she didn't follow the rules. The rhymes in the story sometimes felt like a little bit of a stretch, and there wasn't much of a flow so they were actually kind of easy to miss when not looking for them.

The illustrations were colorful and bright and perfectly showed the events of the story, even Jasper's hiding. The lines were crisp and again I suspect digital illustration may have been used for this book. Overall I give this book 3.25 out of 5 stars.

I was not impressed with this book it claims its about separation anxiety but its not. There is only one mention of issues involving being away from the parents after multiple mentions of reasons the kid doesn't want to go to school, the kid saying he can just stay home while they go to work proving it isn't about being away from his parents at all, and since he actively tried to leave his parents to go football practice the story makes it clear the kid is not anxious about leaving his parents. Then the end of the story is ways to make the anxiety of school easier but its focusing on separation anxiety that the kid in the story didn't have so doesn't make sense to the book. The illustrations were nice.

𝗠𝘆 𝗧𝗶𝘁𝗹𝗲: Skulking Jasper
𝗙𝗮𝘃 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗲𝗿: Olga
𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗮𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆: Easy
𝗧𝘆𝗽𝗲: Children’s
𝗚𝗲𝗻𝗿𝗲: School, Absenteeism, Friends
4/𝟱

🌱THE EXCELLENT
~ The illustrated furniture details
~ Taught ways to engage children on their way & at school
~ Recommendations at the end of the book on how to help children with separation anxiety

Jasper has been avoiding school for a few days well now (like Kokoro - Lonely Castle in the Mirror), he tries all he can to stay home with his parents from feeling sick, to complaining & all in-between. When he meets a new friend, he begins to realise that he can also be comfortable in school & enjoy himself.

✨𝗚𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗶𝘁 𝗮 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱.

🌱THE MEH
~ Rhymes not fully rhyme-y (they didn’t have to be at all though)

♡🌱 𝗕𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁'𝘀 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗺𝗲 ;)

Poor Jasper just wants to stay home and not go to school. The longer he stays away the more worried and anxious he becomes. He is behind in completing his homework and his parents are getting very frustrated with him.

Many ideas swirl about Jasper feeling the way he does. Is he being bullied on the bus? Is school a scary place for him? Is his homework too hard? Is he truly sick as he claims or is he wanting attention? All very good and valuable questions.

The book is written in rhyme with gorgeous illustrations that make the text come alive. This book highlights some reasons that kids refuse to go to school and what can give them confidence to try school once again.

The author has included a special page written for parents and teachers with tips to offer insightful and practical tips that will be helpful to children who are suffering from separation anxiety and school-related stress.

"Jasper Wants to Stay Home is the fourth title in the Diamond, Opal and Friends series. Written for students in grades PreK-5, these popular stories are used by educators and parents to teach children self-care, self-control, and self-determination. The series includes Diamond Rattle Loves to Tattle,Opal Octopus Is Overwhelmed, and Remi in Overdrive."

This is a very important subject and I highly, highly recommend this book!

This is a cute book and also a very helpful book. I think it is a good read for and with your child when they suffer from separation anxiety or school anxiety or for another reason don't want to go to school.
The tips in the back for parents are very useful as well.

"Jasper Lizard Wants to Stay Home" is a cute, rhyming children's tale about a lizard who overcomes his fear of school. It is a great resource for helping children confront their separation anxiety and nerves about going to school. The illustrations are cute and the story is engaging. It also features a useful guide at the end for parents and educators to help children with their school anxiety.

I am quite impressed with the team’s ability to understand kids and how adults can intervene when they face problems they can’t express.

This story is one such example. Our Jasper doesn’t want to go to school. He does everything at home in his room but his parents are quite worried. They finally try to intervene and know the root cause of this situation. I am quite impressed with how his father tries to deal with it and finds an acceptable solution for both parties.

I feel the book is quite good and helpful.

The illustrations is simply amazing!

Thank you, Boys Town Press, for the advance reading copy.

Jasper doesn't want to go to school - the thought of leaving home and his parents makes him feel sick. However, he soon starts learning ways to cope and starts enjoying heading off to school. A great book with tips about separation anxiety in children.