Absolutely Alfie and the First Week Friends

A new school year is always exciting, but not necessarily in a good way. Second grade will have changes for Alfie. She will have a man teacher and, of course, there will be some new children. And Alfie hasn’t seen some of her friends since first grade. But Alfie has a plan that will make everything great — she will have two best friends, Hanni and Lulu. It will be perfect.

When she gets to school, Mr. Havens, her new teacher, has assigned seats at tables, and Lulu isn’t at Alfie’s table. The students are given a group project to work on for Back to School Night, and problems begin. The kids at her table didn’t listen to the assignment and won’t listen to Alfie! Everything is going wrong.

Author Sally Warner has written a book that is pitch-perfect for the youngest elementary school readers with realistic problems and normal concerns and feelings. Alfie’s family is great, and the relationship with her brother, EllRay, is sweet. The writing is crisp and just complex enough for the age group. Illustrations by Shearry Malone have an old-fashioned feeling that works well for this story and adds a lot to it.