My Teacher Is a MONSTER!

Peter Brown, the author of one and illustrator of two of my favorite picture books of the last few years , Mr Tiger Goes Wild and Creepy Carrots, has written and illustrated a perfect back to school book, My Teacher Is a MONSTER! (No, I Am Not).

Bobby’s teacher, Ms. Kirby, doesn’t like a noisy classroom or paper airplanes thrown during class or dawdling. She stomps and she roars. Bobby decides she is a MONSTER! One Saturday, on his way to play in his favorite park, he runs into his teacher sitting on a  bench reading. Her hat blows away and Bobby runs to retrieve it. He catches it just before it blows into the duck pond. Ms. Kirby tells Bobby that he is her hero. That breaks the ice and they spend some time quacking with the ducks and Bobby shows her  his favorite spot, high on a hill in the park. Ms.Kirby pulls a sheet of paper out of her handbag and gives it to Bobby to make a paper airplane, then they watch it fly all the way down the hill. They decide that, perhaps, that was the greatest paper airplane flight in history. Back at school, Ms. Kirby still stomps and still roars but is she a monster?

I love the slow evolution of Ms. Kirby from green monster to a pretty, young woman as the two get to know each other in the park. It is an experience my seventh grade class had with one of our teachers. She had a fearsome reputation. We were prepared to loath her but because we got to know her outside of class (after school), she became our favorite teacher. Who knew teachers were people, too?

The Sonoma County Library has several copies and the AR is 1.7.