Sam's First Day

by David Mills

Book by Mills, David

24 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 2000

Reviews

[Nicola O · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was looking for books that would be useful resource for teaching Modern Foreign Languages and I came across this. The illustrations were done by Lizzie Finally and they are very simple. I did not find the book very engaging but the story is nice. It is a story about a young boy who is reluctant to talk and his peers in his class think he cannot speak. He is voluntarily mute all day and he only talks when he sees his big sister arrive at home time. This book just highlights that some children are quiet because they are afraid and do not have the confidence to speak, however, if you are patient they will eventually talk. The story is available in 20+ languages and it would be great for children who are in Key Stage 1. I would not consider it to be as good as the ‘Learn with Dora’ collection but it would still be useful.

[TwoDrinks · Rating 1 out of 5]

Yuck. I did not like this book. I found Sam an irritating, awkward child whose shyness/bad manners/social ineptitude bordered on annoying. I went back through it to try to find out why the book provoked such vitriol. I'm still stumped.