100 Things I Love About School

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Author(s)

Amy Schwartz

Co-Authors / Illustrators

Dasha Tolstikova

Publisher

Harry N Abrams Inc

Genre(s)

Age Range

Release Date

July 14, 2026

ISBN

978-1419772382

Buy This Book

An exuberant tribute to school from award-winning writer Amy Schwartz and illustrator Dasha Tolstikova. Includes a poster of all 100 things on the back of the jacket―perfect for an inspiring message on a classroom wall.

From Amy Schwartz, beloved author of 100 Things That Make Me Happy, 100 Things I Love to Do with You, and 100 Things I Know How to Do, comes this celebration of all the best things about school.

The rhyming text is perfect for classroom or playroom read-alouds, and charming illustrations by Dasha Tolstikova cover everything―big, small, serious, and silly―the littlest scholars look forward to in the classroom.

Class pet
The alphabet
Stencils
Pencils…

Editor review

1 review

A list of all that is cool about school!

July 27, 2026

Overall rating

3.5

Plot

3.0

Characters

3.0

Writing Style

4.0

Illustrations/Photos (if applicable)

4.0

Early elementary school is such an exciting place, and this picture book captures the glory of morning meetings, storytimes, and gold stars. There are a lot of different activities, like building things, exercising, and using scissors and glue. There can be parachutes to play with, fantastic playgrounds, and lots of friends. There are even some snacks, musical instruments, and class plays. At the end of the year, there can be moving-up day, which means an opportunity for more adventures the following year.

Good Points

Told in fast-paced, free wheeling verse, this book is a triumphant list of all of the things that make school a much more enticing atmosphere than just staying home. While I'm just as glad that I work with older children (less leakage, which is not depicted in this tome!), the lure of doing things for the first time has an undeniable appeal, and the exuberance of young children comes through in the text.

The illustrations have an early 1980s feel to them; they are rendered in graphite and watercolor, and have limited backgrounds, making the children and activities really stand out of the page. I'm not familiar with the late Ms. Schwartz's work, but she had been writing and illustrating for a long time. Tolstikova does a good job at paying homage to her style.

As the back to school sales start up, this is a great book to read while arranging new crayons in scissors in a school box. Continue with Clapham and Shireen's The Tour at School, Brenner and Hill's And Then Comes School, and Olsen and Sonke's A Letter From Your Teacher on the First Day of School. You can even delve deep into history and embrace the plaid school bag with its hidden stuffed animal in Haywood's classic 1943 Back to School with Betsy.