Vera Jewel is Late for School by Nicola Kent

Vera Jewel is Late for School is the amusing story of a determined, innovative little girl who can’t manage to get to school on time and as the week goes on it doesn’t get any better! This is a great book to read at this time of year, hopefully children don’t need to resort to any of Vera Jewel’s weird and wonderful solutions for getting to school!

The Story: Vera Jewel is late for school on Monday as she has a problem with her bike. Throughout the week she comes up with more adventurous ways of getting there in time – all unsuccessful. Even camping outside the school gate backfires until Vera Jewel spends the weekend coming up with an amazing solution to her problem. A solution that also involves and excites her teacher and all her classmates!

Vera Jewel is Late for School is a rhyming story which starts on a Monday and takes us through each day of the week. During the story Vera is joined by a duck, a mule and the cow who jumped over the moon who are there for her at her lowest point but also help her with her final idea, Kind Vera rewards them for their support by including them in the solution to her problem. She’s a resourceful and imaginative heroine with fierce determination, we love the ideas that she comes up with for getting to school!

The rhyming text is easy to read and a lot of the story is told through Nicola Kent’s fabulous illustrations which are drawn on predominantly white backgrounds. They are bold, colourful and wonderfully busy and we love the way that many of the items that Vera uses on her way to school are repeated in the final spread.

Vera Jewel is Late for School - Story Snug

The humorous details in the pictures make us laugh and as Vera arrives each day the class is engaged in a different lesson – we particularly like the sports lesson which shows her teacher doing star jumps.

Vera Jewel is Late for School is an entertaining story which is perfect to read in a nursery or Early Years classroom. There are so many wonderful details to look at, count and talk about and it also provides a fun introduction to the days of the week. 

Age Range: 3 +

Author / Illustrator: Nicola Kent

We were very lucky to win our copy of Vera Jewel is Late for School in a Twitter competition – thank you so much to Nicola Kent for signing and sending it to us 🙂

You can find more stories about school on Story Snug’s Pinterest board.

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12 responses to “Vera Jewel is Late for School by Nicola Kent”


  1. stickymudandbellylaughs avatar
    stickymudandbellylaughs

    What a fun book! I absolutely love the colourful illustrations. 🙂 #MMBC


    1. Catherine avatar

      The illustrations are so bold and full of detail 🙂


  2. angiemwebster77 avatar

    I love a fun colourful book especially one that rhymes. Well done on winning, it’s lovely to have a signed copy.


    1. Catherine avatar

      It’s really special having a copy signed by the author 🙂


  3. Kim Carberry avatar

    Aww! What a fun story, I like the sound of the rhyming text, I imagine it works so well. x


    1. Catherine avatar

      It’s a really fun rhyme to read aloud 🙂


  4. Carol avatar

    The story is very cute. I love the illustrations. #MMBC


    1. Catherine avatar

      Nicola Kent’s illustrations are so bright and bold!


  5. RaisieBay avatar

    I love rhyming books for children, they are so fun to read. This one sounds like fun


    1. Catherine avatar

      It’s a really catchy rhyme, perfect for the story 🙂


  6. Lisa | Handmade in Israel avatar

    How fun! We all remember the excuses we came up with for being late! The illustrations look beautiful in this book.


    1. Catherine avatar

      I love Nicola Kent’s illustrations and the way that the excuses get more and more absurd!