The Sunday Blues

Neal Layton's "The Sunday Blues" is "a book for schoolchildren, schoolteachers and anybody else who dreads Monday mornings". Through cartoon illustrations Layton portrays the dread Steve feels anticipating Monday and the return to school. Sunday is filled up with the fun of walking the dog, splashing in puddles and visiting Auntie Vera. The bright cartoon illustrations will delight young school age children and the bold simple lines compliment the story. Happily, Steve's worries about Monday morning disappear when he finds all his friends playing in the schoolyard before class. "The Sunday Blues" will reassure everyone that Mondays may not be nearly as bad as we anticipate them to be!

Steve is a lot like everyone else in the world. He hates Sundays because the next day is Monday. His thoughts and actions on school are a lot like mine with work. The Sunday Blues goes through Steve's regular Sunday activities but we actually get to see what he is thinking. His thoughts aren't just about school either, they are about his dog, his aunt, and his mom and dad. It is interesting to see how well even an adult can relate to this book, maybe even more than children. We start with Steve looking depressed, and we go right into his thoughts of school books, clothes, food, test, and teachers. Then we jump from his thoughts of school to what is going on to his day. He eats lunch with his parents, goes to the park, and visits his aunt. We see a lot of good things happening during his day but right after we see how Steve is still dreading Monday. Eventually as we read through and look at these child like drawings Monday arrives. Steve shows up at school and sees "Mark playing soccer," "Dave and Tanya looking at books," and "Tim, Sarah, and Stacey playing jump rope." Just as the book finishes we can also look back and say "maybe school wasn't so bad after all."