A Fine, Fine School

by Sharon Creech

Book Overview

This funny picture book from Newbery Medal winner Sharon Creech, author of Walk Two Moons, and New Yorker cartoonist Harry Bliss is a delight for kids, with its colorful illustrations and gentle comeuppance for a well-meaning principal who learns that learning outside of school can be just as important as being in school.

Tillie goes to a fine, fine school where kids learn about dinosaurs, build pyramids, and paint portraits...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 006027736X
• ISBN13: 9780060277369
• Release Date: July 2001
• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Length: 32 Pages
• Weight: 0.90 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 9.3" x 11.2"
• Age Range: 4 to 8 years
• Grade Range: Preschool to Grade 3

Customer Reviews

Fun way to start the school year

I love this book! The characters and illustrations in this book develop a fun and entertaining story which carries the theme "too much of a good thing can be a bad thing." In this case, the "thing" is school. The Principal of Tillie's school has decided to increase learning by continually adding days to the school year. Tillie finds a way to gently convince her Principal that although school is a wonderful place for students to learn, there are some things they need to learn and participate in away from school. This book has loveable and relatable characters as well as charming and informative illustrations that clearly come together to display that too much of a good thing can indeed be a bad thing. Even though there is a clear lesson to be learned, the story is also very humorous and entertaining by itself. This is a great book to read to--or be read by--young elementary students and enjoyed for years to come.

Excellent Read

This book is a great book to ease the stress of the first day of school. It has a great repetitive text for kids learning to read and it is a humorous story so even the picky reader will enjoy it.

True Meaning of Learning

This book was recently read to me at a teachers' conference. The real message in the story is that learning doesn't only happen in school--it happens everywhere! What a wake up call to parents and guardians!

A Fine, Fine Book

An exuberent principal at a small school is the crucial element of this hilarious book. The principal, in awe of the schools "fine-fineness" decides to have school on Saturdays..then on Sundays as well. Soon there is school on all holidays, vacations and breaks. School hours are extended, lunchtimes/recess is shortened. But the students have no time to spend with family. What will they do? With hilarious illustrations, and a humorous plot, this book yields to deep belly laughs by both kids and adults. If you have a child between the ages of 6 and 16, I strongly reccomend that this book be on your shelves. It reminds you that it could ALWAYS get worse!

A spry and funny book

Author Sharon Creech uses simple sentences in bold type to make this children's picturebook all the more emphatic, while the iconic artwork adds warmth and humor to the story. An overzealous principal feels that he runs such a "fine, fine school" that classes should extend to weekends, holidays, summer, and night... putting the overworked schoolchildren in a bind. It's up to Tille to show her well-intentioned principal that there are other places for a young person to be that are just as important. A Fine, Fine School is a spry and funny book that makes for lively reading.