Ken Marantz and Sylvia Marantz (Children's Literature)
It is Jake’s first day of school. Although his parents try to cheer him up, his apprehension is evident. Adequate humorous rhymes describe his terror; he screams and flees when he meets his teacher, then attaches himself permanently to his parents’ knees. This makes class activities difficult for Jake, from finger painting to playing on the seesaw, to using the bathroom. At the end of the school day, his teacher takes out a book to read to the class, one about a dog named Fred. This makes Jake turn around and note quietly that he has a dog named Fred. He is persuaded to let go of his relieved parents in order to hold the book while the teacher reads. Jake finally feels good inside. The cartoon-y characters seem to occupy a surreal world filled with mundane school buses, classrooms and children. The double-page, exaggeratedly humorous visuals, some quite outrageous, distinguish the tale from the usual first-day-of-school story. The brief, large-print text is supplemented with speech balloons and other asides. And of course the happy ending is reassuring to fearful youngsters. 2008, Feiwel and Friends/Macmillan, $16.95. Ages 3 to 6.

Kirkus (Kirkus Reviews, May 15, 2008 (Vol. 76, No. 10))
Bug-eyed Jake is back (Jake Stays Awake, 2007) with another problem in this very funny addition to the canon of stories about starting kindergarten. "Then there it was, Room Number 1, / where Jake would join his class. / It looked so big, he felt so small, / he passed a little gas." When he grabs them around their legs and won't let go, Jake's incredibly patient parents have no choice but to accompany him to class. The two pointy-headed parents look utterly ridiculous when uncomfortably squeezed into a youngster's chair with a terrified looking Jake on top of them. Much to his parents' relief, the teacher finds something to which Jake can relate, and he makes the transition to successful kindergartener. Wright's background in cartoons and film is clearly evident, and his eccentric portrayal of people who all look like giant thumbs with arms and legs is his trademark. The preposterously shaped characters, pithy rhymes and the many emotions expressed by just a few differently drawn lines make this an enjoyable graphic experience. 2008, Feiwel & Friends, 48p, $16.95. Category: Picture book. Ages 4 to 6. © 2008 Kirkus Reviews/VNU eMedia, Inc. All rights reserved.

Sharon F. Williams (Library Media Connection, October 2008)
There is a plethora of ‘first-day-of-school-horrors-all-coming-out-right-in-the-end’ books. I thought, ‘Oh, no, can there be any new twists to this theme?’ The answer to that question is a resounding ‘Yes!’ Twist number one: ’Simpson-like’ illustrations. Twist number two: both parents staying with Jake all day at school; not just the mom. Twist number three’the students and the teacher letting Jake and his parents be without cajoling and pleading. Twist number four’the reason Jake is willing to come back on his own the next day and the rest of the year is a book about a dog named Fred (which is the name of Jake’s dog), and a teacher who let him hold the book while she read it to the class. The rhyming text fits the story beautifully. The illustrations are hilarious and a perfect complement to the story. Well done, Mr. Wright! Recommended. 2008, Feiwel and Friends (Holtzbrinck Publishers), 48pp., $16.95 hc.

Horn Book (The Horn Book Guide, Spring 2009)
Nervous about his first day of school, Jake clings to his parents. So tightly, in fact, that they are forced to stay together as a unit--until reading time offers an opportunity to comfortably join the class. Cartoony illustrations of the family in awkward situations (all on a tricycle, lumped on the jungle gym) provide anxiety-diffusing humor for kids like Jake. Category: Picture Books. 2008, Feiwel, 48pp, 16.95. Ages 4 to 9. Rating: 3: Recommended, satisfactory in style, content, and/or illustration.