You're Wearing That to School?! - Tapa dura

"Oh, yes, yes!" Penelope is so excited about the first day of school that she's doing her happy hippo dance. She can't wait to wear her rainbow sparkle outfit, bring her favorite stuffed toy for show-and-tell, and share a big picnic lunch with all her new friends.

"Oh, no, no!" says her best pal Tiny, who started school last year. He has a few tips for Penelope about fitting in without sticking out.

The two friends' very different ways of handling peer opinion create hilarious scenes that will erase any anxiety before the first day of school.

Lynn Plourde (www.lynnplourde.com) has had nearly thirty picture books published., including Wild Child and School Picture Day. She considers herself a "teaching author," because she makes so many visits to schools to teach kids how to become better writers. She worked for 21 years as a speech-language therapist in public schools and is the author of ten educational books. As a child (and working adult) she always loved going to school, though she found it difficult to sleep the night before the first day, because she was anxious to start each year off right. This story is also an outgrowth of her obsession with the TLC make-over show What Not to Wear. She enjoys snowshoeing, kayaking, and reading in Maine, where she would love to have a good reason to wear a feather boa on occasion.
Sue Cornelison (www.suecornelison) has illustrated several books for children, including The Twelve Days of Christmas in Iowa; Inch and Mile: The Journey to Success: and the Howard B. Wigglebottom Series. She studied art at Drake University in Iowa and the International School of Studio Art in Florence, Italy. She married jazz musician Ross Cornelison and together they rasied a family of six children in a small rural townwhile fixing up a 100-year-old Victorian house.