I Got the Christmas Spirit by Connie Schofield-Morrison

Each line begins with a personal pronoun and an active-voice verb-“I share,” “I breathe,” “we sing,” etc.-that exudes this protagonist’s enthusiasm for school. Like its predecessors, I Got the Rhythm(2014) and I Got the Christmas Spirit (2018), this picture book establishes a sentence pattern that persists, one that will help nascent readers predict what comes next. She even has a black male teacher-a rare demographic in American elementary schools-who captivates his class during storytime. Morrison’s vibrant oil paintings, reminiscent of those by artist and NFL player Ernie Barnes, feature close-up perspectives of the little girl and everyone she encounters while they reveal lots of diversity both in her neighborhood and at school. Her spirit surfaces in onomatopoeic words on nearly every double-page spread, contributing to the high energy of the story.

With her hair in two gigantic puffballs, she shows her school spirit with snazzy shoes (“STOMP, STOMP!”), her backpack (“ZIP, ZIP!”), and her “loud…clear” singing in class (“ABC, 123!”). A great prescription for kids who tremble at the thought of their first day of school.Ī young African American girl with deep brown skin, round cheeks, and an infectious smile spends her first day of school celebrating spirit in many ways.

I Got the Christmas Spirit by Connie Schofield-Morrison