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Review: Recess

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By Lane Smith
New York: Abrams Books for Young Readers, 2025. Picture Book.

It's many kids' favorite time of the school day: Recess!!! Well, not quite yet. What do you do when you're so excited for recess—or just need a little break—but recess is so far away? Why don't you just make a mini recess wherever you are? Guided by your teacher, of course. The author will start by describing a typical school situation, before following it up with a vivid page describing ways to make the situation silly. Like in math class: we start solving a word problem about several people and their bananas, before starting to yell "bananas" as loud as we can!

This interactive picture book makes a great read aloud to encourage participation from your audience. The vivid colors and wacky stylization of the children reflect the silliness of the tasks they are being given, and well contrasted with the set up of each scene in blacks and greys. Reading this story out loud to a group could get out of hand, which is why I really appreciate the last page encouraging some group calm-down time to aid in transition from this book's crazy antics to your next activity. This book is sure to be a hit with any kid who likes to be silly with their grown-up and great to get any class of school kids out of their shells.
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