Elizabeti's School

It is Elizabeti's first day of school. She is so excited that she can hardly sit still while Mama braids her hair. She puts on her new uniform and feels her shiny new shoes. School must surely be a very special place!Yet when Elizabeti arrives at school, she feels shy. She wishes she had stayed home instead. As the teacher tells the class what they will be learning, Elizabeti finds it hard to concentrate. She wonders if her sister Flora misses playing with her, and if Mama needs her help to clean the rice, and if her brother Obedi wants her to take him for a walk. She misses them all.While Elizabeti learns a new game in the schoolyard and how to count in class, she is glad when the school day is over and she can take off her stiff school clothes and shoes. She is so happy that she decides she doesn't want to go back to school again.But in the evening, as Elizabeti enjoys playing her new game with Mama, she discovers that she can use her new math skills to count-her new kittens!Author Stephanie Stuve-Bodeen and artist Christy Hale team up for the third time to recreate the sweet innocence of Elizabeti. Readers are sure to share her joy and wonder as she discovers the pleasure of learning.

STEPHANIE STUVE-BODEEN lived in Tanzania, Africa, as a Peace Corps volunteer in the 1980s, and it was there that she met the young girl who was the inspiration for the three books in the Elizabeti series. Stuve-Bodeen is also the author of several other published and forthcoming children's books. She and her family live in La Center, Washington.