I Hate School

I Hate School

Title: I Hate School
Author: Jeanne Willis
Publisher: Atheneum Books for Young Readers
Date of Publication: 2003
Illustrator: Tony Ross
Genre Designation: Children’s fiction
Readability Lexile: 1-3 (ages 6-9)

Summary:
I Hate School is a story about a young girl who is telling an unnamed narrator about why she strongly dislikes school.  She says her teacher is warty faced toad, that she is forced to eat worms, rabbit poo and coal, among many other totally absurd reasons.  The reader never finds out why she hates school as much as she says does, but at the end we find out that on the day when she can finally leave this miserable place that she is full of tears because she will “really miss it!” 

Evaluation:
I think that this story serves as a fun read.  It also does a great job with its imagery, if the reader did not look at the illustrations at all they would still be able to build these images within their imagination because the author had great word choice.  However, other than that I am not sure if I would really file this story under one of my “good story” books.  One of the reasons being, that we never really get to know the main character.  I like how the author doesn’t tell us why the main character “hates” school, but I feel like we never really understood at all why she disliked school.  I think this might make it hard for readers to relate to the character, or the story as a whole.  It almost made it to “unreal” when in reality it is a very real topic and one in which many young and adult learners can relate to.  The author did include the literary element of rhyming throughout the book however, it was somewhat random and when read aloud it was hard to find the right flow or beat to read the story to.  As the reader I am still unsure of what the exact message was that the author was trying to tell me within this story.  I believe that it was that even after all the “stinky” stuff that goes along with school that you will still miss it.  I think this is biggest pitfall of all, the theme was too muddled up with the story and then pushed in right at the end that the reader is unclear as to what is really going on with this story. 

Illustrations:
The illustrations went along with the story very nicely.  The details within the illustrations are a pleasant surprise that may be missed during a first read through.  The pictures supported the text rather than distracting from it or being overwhelming on the page. 

Mini-Lesson:
This mini-lesson would focus on the concept of hyperboles.  The students would sit in a large circle as a class.  We would get out the squishy ball (the ball that can be tossed from student to student during sharing time).  The students would then use a hyperbole to describe something they like or dislike.  It can be food, toys, school, chores etc.  Example: “I love Sonic so much, I could watch it everyday for the rest of my life.”  That student would then toss the squishy ball to another student and it would be their turn.  Example: “ I would rather die than eat peas.”