THIS IS THE TEACHER
by Rhonda Gowler Green & illustrated by Mike Lester
Every teacher knows that some days, no matter how ready for school they are in the morning, they’ll leave fit only for bed. In this story told in cumulative rhyme, everything that can go wrong does all in one day. Ants and boas and hamsters escape. Bees and baseballs and rain intrude. Floods flow from water fountains and cupcakes fly. A tooth is lost and so is one student’s lunch. Is it any wonder that the teacher of the title can only collapse with her cat when she gets home? Greene’s cause-and-effect public service announcement for Murphy’s Law and Lester’s wacky, inspired illustrations are perfect together. Readers will laugh at the details and enjoy hunting for the hamster on every spread (after he escapes). This one is a perfect back-to-school read-aloud or even a story to end the year. (Picture book. 4-9)