Sarah's Nerves

First Day Jitters

Written by Julie Danneburg

Illustrated by Judy Love

Perfection Learning Corporation, 2000

34 Pages

Contemporary Realistic Fiction

            It’s the first day of school and Sarah Jane has the first day jitters. She is so nervous that she feels sick. Sara eventually makes her way to school, and she finds herself in the midst of many new faces. Nothing could prepare you for the plot twist at the end of the story.

            The illustrations seem to be watercolor sketches. They are very detailed and cartoonish. The perspective of Sarah is predominately represented throughout the story.

            The lesson that I came up with for this story would be for Kindergarten reading. We could do a sequencing activity and recall the order of events that Sarah went through to get to school.