I Know an Old Teacher (Carolrhoda Picture Books)
Grade 2–4—Miss Bindley takes the class pets home for a long weekend and develops an eerie, extraordinary craving. Following the traditional cumulative rhyme, all of them disappear in a round ofFear Factor-inspired eating—a flea, spider, fish, rat, Jake the Snake, and, as students cry in horror, "She's got our Lizzie!"—the class lizard. Miss Bindley, in turn, grows less appealing with the turn of each page. Hair becomes flyaway and frizzy, her cozy robe falls into a frumpy sack, and her face turns-well, a bilious green. Gammell's lively artwork is a colorful combination of watercolor, colored pencils, pastel, and crayon framed by a mix of font sizes and colors. Assisted by conversational responses from Miss Bindley's students, who are spying on her, the tale progresses as tails disappear until the unlikely becomes the outrageous—"I know an old teacher who swallowed a child…." Would she really try that? The horrifying notion is entertained, but to the relief of readers, is tossed aside in this unusual offering.—Mary Elam, Forman Elementary School, Plano, TXCopyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.