Picture Day Jitters - by Julie Danneberg (Hardcover)

About the Book

"It is class picture day and Mrs. Hartwell is doing her best to keep her class looking their neat and well-dressed best, but as the hours pass the students become messier and messier. By picture time at the end of the day, they look like their normal selves--and that works out just fine"--Provided by publisher.

Book Synopsis

In this installment of the best-selling, classroom classic Jitters series, it's not the first day, but it is picture day, and Mrs. Hartwell wants her students looking their best.

The class photo is scheduled for the end of the day--can everyone's favorite teacher, Sarah Jane Hartwell, keep them looking neat and tidy? She has the jitters again! Mrs. Hartwell is determined to keep her students looking perfect for their school pictures. This means no chalk at recess, no experiments during science, and eating lunch in the classroom instead of the cafeteria. Bo-ring! By the end of the day, the students look their best, but their smiles are missing. Mrs. Hartwell lets them cut loose after their individual photos are taken, forgetting that the class photo is still to come!

A funny and heartwarming addition to the beloved series that reminds readers that everyone gets the jitters!

Review Quotes

A tradition as familiar as the first day of school.

Mrs. Hartwell's elementary class has come dressed to the nines for class-picture day. The only problem? Photographs won't be taken until the end of the day, so everyone has to stay neat and tidy until then. Throughout the day, the students are tremendously careful, and their routine goes relatively smoothly--except when a tomato explodes on a student; the pencil sharpener breaks, spilling shavings all over another student; and everyone cleans up the classroom at the end of the day. Each time there's a mishap, Mrs. Hartwell reassures the kids with a "Don't worry, I can fix it." When it is finally time for pictures, the students look smart and neat in their individual photos. Relieved, they run off to play--and make a mess--before convening for a photo of the whole class, in which everyone looks rumpled and disorganized. But, says Mrs. Hartwell when they finally see the photo, "You're picture-perfect just the way you are!" This latest series installment is as much about Mrs. Hartwell as it is about her students, reminding readers that all classrooms have their own symbiosis. Educators will find this book all too relatable, while children will laugh at the fun Mrs. Hartwell's class has together. Love's watercolor illustrations are marvelously detailed and look almost like photographs themselves. Mrs. Hartwell is light-skinned; her class is diverse.

A class abuzz on a special day!

-- Kirkus Reviews

About the Author

Julie Danneberg is the author of John Muir Wrestles a Waterfall, Monet Paints a Day, and Family Reminders, as well as the best-selling Jitters Series. She is a retired middle-school teacher.

Judy Love is a graduate of Rhode Island School of Design and has illustrated numerous children's books, including First Day Jitters and Last Day Blues by Julie Danneberg. She lives near Charlotte, North Carolina, with her family.