Chu’s First Day of School

Chu’s First Day of School is the second entry in Neil Gaiman’s Chu picture book trilogy, illustrated by Adam Rex. The series began with Chu’s Day, in which the small panda Chu’s enormous suppressed sneeze threatens to become a major event for everyone around him. This book takes Chu to the first day of school, where the small panda’s sneeze meets a classroom full of new students and a curious teacher for the first time.

The book is built around a familiar real life experience, the first day of school anxiety that almost every child can relate to. Chu is nervous about meeting new classmates and worried about what they will think of him. The book follows the slow process of Chu being introduced to the various students in his class, with each new child sharing something they can do that makes them special. Chu sits quietly through the introductions, increasingly worried that what he can do will not impress anyone or that the other children will laugh at him. When his turn finally comes, the inevitable happens, and the consequences for the classroom give the book its comic conclusion.

Gaiman has a real feel for what a picture book needs. The text is sparse, the rhythm of the prose is built for reading aloud, and the structure is built around the kind of repeating anticipation that very young children love. The first day of school setting gives the book a particular emotional resonance for parents reading aloud to children who are facing the same kind of transition.

Adam Rex’s illustrations are the other half of the book. Painted in rich detail with a tactile quality that almost feels like collage, the spreads give Chu’s small panda body and the diverse classroom of his new classmates the kind of visual richness that rewards repeat readings. The classroom scenes are full of small visual jokes, with each animal student rendered with personality and the eventual sneeze given the kind of visual expansion that the build deserves.

For families with young children starting school, or for any family with a child who is looking forward to or worried about a new classroom, Chu’s First Day of School is a particularly useful read aloud.