MISS SMITH READS AGAIN!

The second-grade teacher with the fiery orange brush cut and leather jacket introduced in Miss Smith’s Incredible Storybook (2003) returns, opening her magical volume to transform the classroom into Arthur Conan Doyle’s Lost World. Thrills ensue, as the class meets some of the characters, evades a tyrannosaurus, rescues Miss Smith from a pterodactyl’s nest and then, despite having broken the cardinal rule not to interfere with the storyline, returns to the present. In what reads like an editing error, readers are told twice that the children have escaped the toothy predator, and the relationship between Doyle’s tale and this one is perfunctory at best. Still, the combination of dinosaurs, exciting adventures and a decidedly unconventional teacher who literally brings her lessons to life traverses familiar territory for Magic School Bus fans, and the glossy, elaborately detailed illustrations are another draw. (Picture book. 6-8)