Sam Lloyd’s “First day at bug school” is such a light, fun, super cute, addictive reading! I got it when little gosling was struggling with a delayed transition between two levels at the nursery school and we were battling every morning with a heartbreaking, teary “I don’t wanna go to school, mummy. I want to stay home with mummy and daddy”. It’s definitely helped to encourage him gently to get out of home in the morning.  

It is a rhymed chronicle of a first day at the bug school, equipped with dedicated classes for different insects: spiders, crickets, ladybirds, fleas…, complete with a vibrant dining room, a playground, busy toilets, an assembly first thing in the morning and storytime in the afternoon. I only remember one story from my time in nursery, with all of us gathered round on small chairs, hands behind our backs. A bit less relaxed than little gosling, who seats with his colleagues in a circle, on cushions brought from home.  

There’s something to learn about bugs and about school time, different school subjects or behaviour in a school setting. And it all transpires naturally, funnily and gently from both rhymes and illustrations. We spend a lot of time chatting about the lovely, playfully detailed illustrations. Little gosling is fascinated by the abacus in the ladybird math class; makes me vocalise repeatedly the song that Chloe is learning in cricket class 😋; has us identify the individual bugs by name in the group pages; we talk about the emotions reflected on the tiny bugs faces and we discuss about which bugs we want to be/which class we want to be in. Best of all, when the story ends with the tiny, happy bugs shouting “can we come again tomorrow?”, he responds deliciously squealing “yeeeees, you can”!

Needless to say, this is one of the books that I take on the go that little gosling is sure to delight in whenever, wherever.