Amanda Panda Quits Kindergarten

Reviewed by: Margy Soule - Coffin Elementary School, Brunswick, Southern Maine Library District

Review Date: December 13, 2017

Review

Amanda Panda Quits Kindergarten by Candice Ransom and illustrated by Christine Grove is the story of Amanda Panda’s first day of kindergarten. She know she likes the color brown, building a tower, and writing her name. Because of her big brother, she knows what to expect, but things don’t go as planned. A sweet little panda named Daisy dressed all in pink and who loves sparkles wants to be her friend, but Amanda thinks she is a pest. Fed up with kindergarten, she tries to join her brother’s class but ends up helping Daisy get back to kindergarten instead. By the end of the day, Amanda realizes that she can fit pink loving Daisy into her kindergarten world. This story about accepting friends with different tastes and interests and about accepting school for what it is will appeal to teachers and young listeners. Illustrations are a bit similar to Lynn Munsinger’s with line drawings filled with a variety of colors done with graphic pencils. The pandas have plenty of human expressions and appeal, and the colorful dotted endpapers set the mood.

Overall Book Score: very good