Dear Substitute

Starred review from April 16, 2018
In a witty epistolary narrative, Scanlon and Vernick (coauthors of Bob, Not Bob!) tackle the sometimes-unwelcome arrival of substitute teachers. “Dear Substitute,” the first letter starts, “Where’s Mrs. Giordano, and why didn’t she warn us?” The substitute, Miss Pelly, can’t pronounce her students’ names correctly (“Poor Charvi and Betje. Poor Eliandra”). She doesn’t clean the turtle tank even though it’s Tank Tuesday, and she’s casual about the rules (“Dear Class Rules, We have you for a reason”). Still, she somehow spots the narrator trading food at lunchtime (“Dear Miss Pelly, Now you care about rules?”). It’s a tense moment (“Dear Tears. Not here. Not now”). Yet Miss Pelly has some tricks (and great readalouds) up her sleeve (“It turns out that I really like poetry. Especially funny poetry”). The turnaround is as swift as it is warmhearted. Caldecott Medalist Raschka paints dreamy watercolor scenes with feeling and whimsy, imagining the class turtle looking exasperated and Miss Pelly with eyes in the back of her head. Each shift in the narrator’s emotions—from suspicion to anger to intrigue—rings true in this perceptive, probing series of observations from a child’s viewpoint. Ages 4–8. Agent: Erin Murphy, Erin Murphy Literary Agency.

June 1, 2018
A rough day with a sub slowly improves as the child narrator gets to know her and is introduced to new things. Each double-page spread is a letter addressed to some aspect of the day: "Dear Substitute, / Wow. This is a surprise. / What are you doing here? / Where's Mrs. Giordano, / and why didn't she warn us?" Opposite, Raschka's watercolor-and-gouache portrait is appropriately grim and forbidding. Other addressees include "attendance" (the sub can't pronounce some of the names), the homework the narrator labored over (a waste), and the class turtle (it's "Tank Tuesday," but it won't get cleaned today). But after admonishing the narrator for lunch-trading (an allergy risk), the sub gives the class extra storytime, only with "strange little poems" instead of their chapter book. It turns out the narrator loves them, even making one (with the sub's help) about the turtle, and just like that, the day is turned around. The narrator, depicted as a pale-skinned child with brown pigtails, has a new outlook on subs (and maybe new experiences): "Sometimes you've got to / mix things up a little." Raschka's characteristically splashy, modern-ish illustrations, while expressive and with colors that match the changing moods, are casually childlike and sometimes hard to decode. Substitute teachers are a rite of passage for students; this narrator's change of heart provides a good example of handling it with aplomb. (Picture book. 5-7)

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August 1, 2018

PreS-Gr 2-Just when you think you've got the school routine down pat, a substitute shows up and does everything differently. In a series of short poems, an unnamed narrator apologizes for the deviations from the norm: the roll call is mispronounced, the homework isn't collected, the turtle's tank isn't cleaned, and so on. Raschka's good-humored watercolors take all this disruption just seriously enough. The spread with Miss Pelly's "back-of-the-head eyes" gazing attentively through her red, cat's-eye-framed glasses is particularly effective. By the end of the day, the narrator has adjusted and even discovered something new: she likes poetry thanks to the anthologies Miss Pelly shares. All school children deal with substitute teachers somewhere along the line; this title will help them embrace a little flexibility. VERDICT Every elementary school library will want a copy and it won't be out of place in public libraries or homes, either.-Miriam Lang Budin, Chappaqua Library, NY

Copyright 2018 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from May 1, 2018
Grades K-3 *Starred Review* A strange substitute teacher has arrived in the classroom! When a cameo drawing shows their regular teacher, Mrs. Giordano, at home feverish and green-faced with a thermometer in her mouth, the children realize they must endure Miss Pelly, who sports large red cat-eye glasses and seems clueless. She can't pronounce their names correctly, ignores their homework, skips the turtle's Tank Tuesday cleaning day, and cancels their beloved library time and storytime. Instead, she laughs a lot and reads strange little poems about crocodiles, pelicans, and even underwear! A pigtailed girl records the day in a series of epistolary poems (e.g., Dear Library, Dear Lunch ), her oversize eyes swimming with (literally) ocean waves of tears. In a final about-face, she writes to Mrs. Giordano, it's OK if you aren't quite ready to come back tomorrow . . . sometimes you've got to mix it up a little. You know? Caldecott winner Raschka's childlike illustrations in vivid watercolor and gouache are joyful and expressive, reminiscent of Matisse's fauvist portraits and busy backgrounds. He imaginatively uses fonts and school scenes to emphasize how children see their world in the classroom. Pair this with Harry G. Allard Jr. and James Marshall's Miss Nelson Is Missing! (1977) for a fun read-aloud.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)