MISS CENTIPEDE

A new teacher has a mysterious ability to handle enormous class sizes in this illustrated children’s book.

Tiny Spiderville, in the Southwestern United States, has only 51 students attending Insect Elementary, which, despite its name, caters to humans. You could say that Spiderville has room to grow—which comes in handy when the town suddenly starts booming and the school’s population doubles. Fourth grade is especially full, so Principal Grasshopper and Vice Principal Bumblebee advertise for new teachers. Checking the newspaper to place his ad, the principal stumbles on the reason for Spiderville’s newfound popularity: The governor has declared it a “First Sanctuary City.” One of the new hires, Miss Centipede, declares that she can handle a class of any size without an aide—and proves it—even when she has 70 students. What’s her secret? Unlike the other humans with insect names, she can actually transform into a literal 100-armed centipede. Even Miss Centipede reaches her limit and complains to the principal, though, when she’s given 100 students. Somehow, he and the other teachers and staff turn temporarily into their insect counterparts. Apparently having taught her lesson, Miss Centipede returns to human form and goes on to become a beloved teacher. In her debut book, Wilson builds suspense well, as when ending pages with breathless cliffhangers, like “But no one knew why Spiderville was so popular until…” or “No one knew her secret….” The subtitle and Sanctuary City reference suggest a message about welcoming immigrants, but this doesn’t materialize, feeling like a missed opportunity. Also, the logic of many hands allowing a single teacher to tackle huge classes doesn’t really make sense and is therefore less satisfying. The uncredited illustrations are lively and whimsical, depicting characters of diverse skin tones.

Enjoyable and imaginative but somewhat nonsensical.