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A classroom teacher himself, Johnson (James and the Dinosaurs, 1995) pays tribute to the resourcefulness of substitutes. When weary Miss Huff accidentally leaves her own wish list for vacation—rather than a class schedule—on her desk before taking a day off, her replacement Mrs. Martin takes it at face value. She follows the list, organizing without apparent effort, trips to the amusement park, beach, and ski slope, scuba and sky-diving expeditions, and for a grand finale, a visit to the circus—where she reveals that her other job is Lion Tamer. The children, all wide-eyed, rubber-limbed clay figurines in Smith’s candy-colored illustrations using clay, acrylic, collage, and Photoshop, have a terrific time though in the end are just as happy to have Miss Huff back. She’s all rested after following the list for the substitute having had a lovely time reading aloud to her cat, playing Scrabble (spelling), playing hopscotch (recess), and paying bills (math). What would Viola Swamp think? (Picture book. 7-9)
