Late for School!

By Stephanie Calmenson and Sachiko Yoshikawa

Oh no! Mr. Bungles has overslept and he’s going to be late for school. Teachers aren’t supposed to be late! Poor Mr. Bungles tries rushing off in his car, the train, and even a hot air balloon, but nothing works. The clock is still ticking. What will he try next?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lerner Publishing
• Release date: Nov 1, 2013
• ISBN: 9781467737937

Stephanie Calmenson

Stephanie Calmenson is the acclaimed author of many popular books for young readers including Dinner at the Panda Palace; May I Pet Your Dog?; and the Ready, Set, Dogs! and Allie and Amy series written with Magic School Bus author Joanna Cole. A former early childhood teacher and children’s book editor, Stephanie feels fortunate to be able to teach, entertain, and encourage kids through her books. To read more, please visit StephanieCalmenson.com.

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Reviews for Late for School!

[dknapp_31 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is a picture book about a teacher who is late for school. He has a rule in his classroom that one should NEVER be late.It tells, in predictable fashion, about the different modes of transportation he uses to try to make it to school on time. In the end, he is late and decides to change his rule to try to never be late.This was a good book with large colorful pictures. It was perfect to read aloud as the predictability created excitement about what was to follow.I would love to read this book aloud to children and have them tell out loud what came next. It could also be used to teach children about being on time.

[cduke3 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I loved the book “Late for School” by Stephanie Calmenson. What I liked most about it was the way the composition was set up. One page was filled with one or two sentences that led to the next page of one word in bolded giant text. For example, “I’m turning the key. Oh, what a pain! My car won’t start. I’ll race for the….train!” Train was written in bold red letters that took up a quarter of the train. The predictable pattern and subject matter is great for younger children during a read aloud. Another reason I liked this book was the main character who was running late to school was the teacher. I feel like that would show children that adults are not perfect and make mistakes just like they do. The teachers rule at the beginning of the book was “Never, ever, ever be late for school!” to “Please try your best to be on time for school!!” Finally, I liked the illustrations done by Sachiko Yoshikawa. They were beautiful bold colored oil paintings. The colors were bright and mostly primary colors; such as, red, yellow, blue. The big idea of this book is that, it is okay to be late, but you should try your very best to be on time.

[cschne11 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I thought that “Late for School” by Stephanie Calmenson was a fantastic book for many reasons. One reason I liked the book so much is because of the loud, exciting tone that the illustrations and the text creates. The book uses mainly bright, primary colors, and all different fonts and sizes of text. This makes the book very appealing to look at and adds to the frantic tone of the story. In addition, the book has a rhyming pattern throughout. For instance, “Oh, no! I’m the teacher and it’s my rule to never, ever, EVER be late for school!” and “Where is my shoe? It can’t be far. I found it! I’m dressed. Now I’ll hop in my car!” Lastly, the author adds humor by making Mr. Bungles try taking a car, a train, a bus, a unicycle, and even a hot air balloon to school. Humor is almost always an appealing aspect children’s books. In the end, the students forgive Mr. Bungles for being late. The main idea of the book is to point out that teachers make mistakes too.