A retiring teacher has a final assignment for her final class: Find a creative way to clean out 50 years of displays, decorations, supplies, science and crafts projects, books, lost lunches and like clutter to make way for her successor. Bustling about energetically beneath a huge gray beehive, Mrs. McBloom positively exudes teacherly lovability, but though Francis makes a valiant effort to show a half-century’s clutter, he draws rather too neatly to carry it off. Still, there’s plenty to pore over in the illustrations, from a potted seedling that grows over the years into a huge, gnarled apple tree to tottering stacks of volumes (many with titles related to keeping classrooms in order), scampering rodents of diverse sorts and middens of bric-a-brac. Ultimately, capable young Georgia Peachpit comes up with a winning strategy—invite all of Mrs. McBloom’s former students (nearly everyone in the hamlet of Up Yonder) to carry off one item—and the teacher gets a warm send-off. A happy tale of community cooperation as well as a celebration of a career well spent. (Picture book. 6-8)
