See You Later, Alligator!

Lana Button's buoyant protagonist, Flora, of See You Later, Alligator! greets readers with a plucky grin. She's dressed in an outfit as colourful as her name suggests: yellow glasses with star-shaped frames, a magenta headband and tee, bright blue jacket, goldenrod backpack, and lime-green high-tops. For Flora, going to school is "easy-peasy", but only if easy-peasy actually means a loving and involved ritual that includes several turnings-back at the school gate for just one more hug or elbow bump from one of her patient moms, a high-five from the energetic family pup, and many an animal-based pun.

Told from the point of view of Flora, herself, the story normalizes the anxiety that a child may feel upon entering another environment, even if it's an environment with which she may already be familiar. Such separation anxiety may be more pronounced amongst youngsters attending preschool or kindergarten after spending most of their lives in pandemic-imposed bubbles. Flora needs just a bit more encouragement from her moms, but they never try to take over to lead Flora into school. This kind of agency for a child may not seem unusual in a picture book but certainly would be harder to practice outside of storytime as the pressures of going to work, distractions from mobile devices, or other impinging adult responsibilities would doubtless tempt parents to rush the school drop-off process. Flora, however, has the full and loving attention of her moms (although one of them has to keep the rambunctious family dog calm). Even with a schoolyard busting with her classmates playing on the swings or with a soccer ball, Flora's attention does not waver from the two figures in her life who help ground her in love and acceptance, no matter how many times she needs to turn back from the school gate to get one more infusion of confidence.

On her third exchange with her moms, the school bell rings, and Flora makes her way into the school building alongside her peers. Right before entering her own classroom, however, Flora takes a deep grounding breath beside her cubbyhole, so that "inside [her] she can feel...one more hug" that gives her the confidence to stride into her classroom. "Good morning!" her teacher greets her. "We have so many things to do today!" Right before Flora launches herself into a full day of learning, she makes a quick detour to the window where her moms are still waiting. "See you later, Alligator!" she cries. The last page turn shows Flora clutching a drawing she made in class, backpack back on, ready to take on her next adventure post-school.

Noémie Gionet Landry's combination of hand-drawn and digital illustration is a delightful complement to Button's text, populating the story with genial, colorfully garbed children and grown-ups, happy songbirds, a stretching cat, Flora's excitable family dog, and a very pink schoolhouse. Whenever Flora takes a step back to her parents, Gionet Landry shows only Flora and her family on blue crayon-patches against a white background. Once Flora shifts her focus back on trying to make it to her classroom, the bustling schoolyard and glimpses of the street behind Flora's moms re-emerge. Flora's fellow schoolmates are drawn with affectionate detail: one child needs mobility aids to walk, another wears a hearing aid, and each cubbyhole bears a name for a diverse group led by a curly-haired teacher in a pineapple print button-up shirt and sapphire blue vest.

See You Later, Alligator! serves as a heartwarming antidote to the anxiety-inducing weekday ritual of a child gathering the courage to attend school by herself for the first time (or perhaps even the ninety-ninth) and would never overstay its welcome.