If I Built a School By Chris Van Dusen

 

About Book

Title: If I Built a School
Author & Illustrator: Chris Van Dusen

Genre: Science Fiction
Major Book Awards: 2020 Texas Blue Bonnet Awards
Recommended Age Range: 5 to 7
Appropriate Grade Levels: Kindergarten to 3rd grade

Summary

This story is about a boy named Jack, who takes a teacher through an imaginary tour of how he would build his dream school, involving many fantasy and futuristic ideas. He first takes her on the inside layout of the school. The first thing there'll be, are cute puppies and giant zoo animals at the entrance. To go to class, there would be a pod-like glass for transportation. Classrooms would be open roof and have floating desks. At the library, the books would come to life and pop-out every time it gets opened. Art, music, and science classes would be fun as well. They'll get to use paint sprayers, play music really loud, and build their own creatures in science labs. Instead of tests, there would be lots of fieldtrips on special bus that can dive underwater and take off to space. Instead of a boring cafeteria, there would be a robot that can whip anything up. Jack then takes her outdoor to the playground. It includes zip lining, a 3-story slide, and tubing. At the end of the story, Jack is impressed with his school and know that it'll be a fun learning place if real. 

Teacher Evaluation

This was such a super cool and fun book. I love how imaginative and creative the author is. The illustrations were nice and goes along really well with Jack's innovative ideas. Another aspect that I really like, is the poetry-like text. It makes the book entertaining and fun to read, so I'll definitely use it in my class as a read aloud. It's a great book to read during free time and is especially appropriate for kindergarten to 3rd graders. A fun quick activity students can do is build their own school by sketching it out. This will help students learn how to explore their creativity and imagination.