It seems there are three books in the Miss Nelson series by Harry Allard and James Marshall. I was going to share my thoughts on the sequel to Miss Nelson is Missing… however it appears Miss Nelson Has a Field Day is now Missing. So we’re going to skip forward to Miss Nelson is Back.
In a nutshell: Miss Nelson gets tonsillitis and has to be out for a week. Her class seizes on the opportunity to act out, but are warned by a now older, yet still beady-eyed redhead wearing a new version of the shirt he wore two grades ago… and pink cowboy boots. They dread that their substitute will be the Swamp, but instead, it’s the dull, bunny-toothed principal Mr. Blandsworth. After days of goldfish slide shows, shadow puppets and a brush with ball point pens of the world, Miss Nelson’s kids hatch a plan. They develop a Miss Nelson costume that can be worn by three kids sitting on each other’s shoulders. Mr. Blandsworth, aka Mr. Blindsworth, is fooled and the kids enjoy an afternoon on the town. Their fun is spoiled when they make the mistake of walking past Miss Nelson’s house with “Miss Nelson.” A scratchy-voiced Viola Swamp shows-up at school to whip the class back into shape and they regret trying to get rid of Mr. Blindsworth. In the end, Miss Nelson returns to basque in the gratitude of her now thankful kids.
Families can talk about: How might a substitute teacher feel about teaching a new class… nervous? Shy? How should you behave for a substitute teacher? What does it mean to “dust erasers?” Why is the pretend Miss Nelson so lumpy? Should a substitute just do bird calls and card tricks all day? Is that teaching? How can Miss Nelson change her nail polish from black to pink in less than a minute? Why is Mommy’s scary witch voice so authentically realistic? Is the Swamp really Miss Nelson, or her twin sister Barbara?
We may never know…
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