We Like Kindergarten.

by Clara Cassidy, Pictures by Eloise Wilkin
Western Publishing Company, 1965

Books about starting school and kindergarten are all over the place now, The Kissing Hand or Miss Bindergarten Gets Ready for Kindergarten or Countdown to Kindergarten,
but when I was young, this was the book. I loved kindergarten and Carol's experience was a lot like mine or at least what I remember about it. I was so proud of my rug for naptime. It was a soft white furry carpet square with my name written on the back in black marker, and we hung them on a hook just outside the room. Other than naptime, I mostly remember games. I do know we had all day kindergarten, but we only met every other day.

Cassidy's book features all the best bits of school... classroom pets, finger painting, musical instruments, show and tell, recess on the playground, story time, and Farmer in the Dell -- a game I've not thought about in YEARS. I love how Carol comes home and "plays school" with her little sister Laurie and Rusty and Patches (pets) are her "boys and girls."