If I Built a School

Jack has big ideas about what school could be. In his imagined school, pneumatic tubes whisk students to their classrooms, hover desks float above the floor, a robot chef cooks lunch, library books come to life, and field trips head for outer space. There is room for animals, too, and plenty of ways to make learning feel like an adventure. Chris Van Dusen tells the story in bouncy rhyming verse and fills each page with detailed, retro-futuristic illustrations that reward a second and third look. A companion to his earlier If I Built a Car and If I Built a House, the book celebrates imagination and the fun of picturing how things might be different. It won the Texas Bluebonnet Award, chosen by Texas students.