The Bad-News Report Card by Nancy Poydar

32 p., Holiday House, 2009. Report cards can be a source of worry for children. At first, Isabel confidently expects an excellent report card. But at the same time, we can tell that she's preoccupied: she makes a report card for her cat, and talks about report cards with a classmate when she is supposed to be listening to her teacher. When her teacher redirects her, she forgets to write her name on her paper. When she realizes this, she tries to slip her paper out of the teacher's pile to write her name on it. Now she's made three mistakes, and she's sure that her report card is going to be terrible. So she sticks it behind the seat of the school bus. Her parents notice her distress, and she explains this by saying that her report card disappeared. Her papa writes her teacher a note about this, but Isabel sticks that behind the school bus seat too. Eventually, she decides she is going to give the report card to her parents and the note to her teacher - but they've disappeared from the bus. The principal has them - and it turns out that Isabel's report card is just fine, and acknowledges her excellent imagination. With Nancy Poydar's charming, expressive gouache and pencil illustrations, and a clear sense that the adult characters are kind and caring, this story reassures children who worry about their report cards. Ages 6-9

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