Miss Irma Birnbaum, “the toughest teacher in town” and star of Passen’s Attack of the 50-Foot Teacher (2000), returns in this hilarious end-of-the-school-year adventure. The story opens with an assignment: “Be prepared for a surprise,” says Miss Birnbaum, who sports a silver beehive hairdo and cat-eye glasses. The children think she’s planning a pop quiz. The truth is, she’s planning a party. But Miss Birnbaum is about to get a surprise of her own. That night, while preparing party food in the school cafeteria, Miss Birnbaum slips and falls “right into the prune pudding, kidney bean cookies, and brussels sprout juice.” Passen’s comical watercolors reveal Miss Birnbaum bathed in a golden glow. The knobby-kneed teacher has begun to shrink. Pretty soon, she can barely open the cafeteria door, and a trip to the library to find a cure reveals bookshelves as big as skyscrapers. Back in the classroom, a scary encounter with “Zippy” the class hamster (who’s now her equal in height) forces Miss Birnbaum to spend the night running on the wheel in his cage. Miss Birnbaum escapes in the morning but she’s almost crushed by the gigantic children who roam the hallway. Luckily, “Johnny O’Leary’s” lunch falls out of his backpack, his cupcake lands on Miss Birnbaum, and Johnny and friends discover the “yucky” stuff stuck in the icing is really their teacher. The students rush Miss Birnbaum to the principal’s office, where she returns to normal size after falling in the fish tank. With their teacher saved and pizza and cake replacing prune pudding at the party, the children are delighted. Expect the unexpected in this purely pleasurable tale. (Picture book. 4-8)
Pub Date: April 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-8050-6452-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2002
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A sweet, soft conversation starter and a charming gift.
A paean to teachers and their surrogates everywhere.
This gentle ode to a teacher’s skill at inspiring, encouraging, and being a role model is spoken, presumably, from a child’s viewpoint. However, the voice could equally be that of an adult, because who can’t look back upon teachers or other early mentors who gave of themselves and offered their pupils so much? Indeed, some of the self-aware, self-assured expressions herein seem perhaps more realistic as uttered from one who’s already grown. Alternatively, readers won’t fail to note that this small book, illustrated with gentle soy-ink drawings and featuring an adult-child bear duo engaged in various sedentary and lively pursuits, could just as easily be about human parent- (or grandparent-) child pairs: some of the softly colored illustrations depict scenarios that are more likely to occur within a home and/or other family-oriented setting. Makes sense: aren’t parents and other close family members children’s first teachers? This duality suggests that the book might be best shared one-on-one between a nostalgic adult and a child who’s developed some self-confidence, having learned a thing or two from a parent, grandparent, older relative, or classroom instructor.
A sweet, soft conversation starter and a charming gift. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: March 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-943200-08-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Compendium
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2017
Although the love comes shining through, the text often confuses in straining for patterned simplicity.
A collection of parental wishes for a child.
It starts out simply enough: two children run pell-mell across an open field, one holding a high-flying kite with the line “I wish you more ups than downs.” But on subsequent pages, some of the analogous concepts are confusing or ambiguous. The line “I wish you more tippy-toes than deep” accompanies a picture of a boy happily swimming in a pool. His feet are visible, but it's not clear whether he's floating in the deep end or standing in the shallow. Then there's a picture of a boy on a beach, his pockets bulging with driftwood and colorful shells, looking frustrated that his pockets won't hold the rest of his beachcombing treasures, which lie tantalizingly before him on the sand. The line reads: “I wish you more treasures than pockets.” Most children will feel the better wish would be that he had just the right amount of pockets for his treasures. Some of the wordplay, such as “more can than knot” and “more pause than fast-forward,” will tickle older readers with their accompanying, comical illustrations. The beautifully simple pictures are a sweet, kid- and parent-appealing blend of comic-strip style and fine art; the cast of children depicted is commendably multiethnic.
Although the love comes shining through, the text often confuses in straining for patterned simplicity. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: April 1, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-4521-2699-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Review Posted Online: Feb. 15, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2015
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