Dear Teacher

by Amy Husband

Overview

Face your first day jitters with the perfect laugh-out-loud back to school comedy.

Can Michael's imagination save him from the first day of school?

Dear Teacher is a hilarious collection of letters from Michael to his new teacher explaining why he can't go to class. From traveling to the pyramids of Egypt to getting attacked by pirates and going to the moon in a rocket ship, each letter is increasingly outlandish and covered with Michael's incredibly funny sketches from his many "adventures."

When Michael's teacher writes back telling him how sorry she is he'll miss all of the exciting school activities planned for the year, Michael realizes all the fun he'd really miss out on.

This book is perfect for a teacher to use in the classroom, or for families to read together at home before going back to school.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781402242687
Publisher:	Sourcebooks
Publication date:	07/01/2010
Pages:	24
Sales rank:	492,993
Product dimensions:	9.52(w) x 9.90(h) x 0.17(d)
Lexile:	AD580L (what's this?)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

Read an Excerpt

From Dear Teacher:

Dear Michael,
We are looking forward to welcoming you back to school for the start of the new year. I hope you have had a really fun break and are ready to dive into lots of learning!

This year your class will be working especially hard in math, history, geography, and English. I am sure that if you study carefully, you will find those spelling tests can be a fun challenge!

Your new teacher is called Miss Brooks. She has all sorts of exciting plans for the new year. We look forward to seeing you on Monday.

Yours sincerely,
Mr. N. T. Grindstone
Principal

Dear Teacher,
I might be a bit late for the first day of school. The weirdest thing happened today. The head of the secret service turned up! They need me for a special secret mission to find a missing explorer. I did mention the math test, but he just said that the future of the country depends on me. I couldn't say no. Sorry Miss Brooks.

From,
Michael

Editorial Reviews

In this vertically oriented book, Michael and his dog, Bruno, travel from Egypt to the moon, down the Amazon and up Mount Everest, all while sending letters to Michael’s new teacher, Miss Brooks, to explain his anticipated lateness on the first day of school (“NASA wants me to go on a space mission.... I told them about the math tests, but they said that the future of the planet has to come first”). But when Michael receives a reply reminding him what he’ll miss, he may just decide to give school a try. Husband’s bright, doodle-like illustrations and dynamic letters will help readers realize real-life escapades can be as fun as imaginary ones. Ages 4-8. (July)

Publishers Weekly

"Kids will love the lighthearted artwork, Miss Brooks’ thoughtful replies to Michael’s outrageous correspondence and the international adventures that threaten to keep him out of school." — L.A. Parent" — L.A. Parent Magazine

"This entertaining book is perfect for the beginning of school — and the best letter is the last, a postcard from the zoo field trip to his mom and dad where he explains that he’ll be staying at the zoo to work with the wild animals." — Colorado Parent" — Colorado Parent

"The wild, colorful illustrations show the imaginative play, and kids with back-to-school panic will find comic relief in these over-the-top scenes." — Booklist

"When Michael gets a letter from the principal telling him about his new teacher, he decides he is not going back to school in the autumn. He sends a series of creative letters to his teacher saying why he won’t be in class when school starts. He imagines many adventures from skiing down Mt. Everest, riding a motorcycle around the pyramids in Egypt, taking a raft down the Amazon River where he finds hidden treasure, being attacked by pirates, chasing pirates on the Orient Express. His faithful dog goes on all these adventures with him. By the end of the book Michael does go to school and is having a great time on a field trip to the zoo. The boldly colored artwork is not sophisticated, and the reader could believe that a child did them. Boy readers will like the book as well reluctant readers. It is fun and colorful, imaginative and thought provoking. It would be a fun read-along with a discussion on Predicting what comes next. Recommended." — Library Media Connection

"Husband’s bright, doodle-like illustrations and dynamic letters will help readers realize real-life escapades can be as fun as imaginary ones." — Publishers Weekly

From the Publisher

"The wild, colorful illustrations show the imaginative play, and kids with back-to-school panic will find comic relief in these over-the-top scenes."

Booklist

Gr 2—This humorous back-to-school book begins with a letter to a student from Principal N. T. Grindstone welcoming him back to school and promising lots of hard work in the year ahead. Following is a series of notes to his new teacher from the highly imaginative Michael, explaining the reasons for his lateness and subsequent absence; "The head of the secret service turned up…I did mention the math test, but he said the future of the country depends on me." Readers follow Michael on the hunt for a missing explorer from the top of Mount Everest through the Egyptian pyramids and the Amazon, by way of a rather sinister pirate ship. The child ends up not returning to school at all, but instead finds himself on another mission of epic proportions. Or does he? The illustrations and text look as if they are the work of Michael himself, and the postscripts are often laugh-worthy ("P.S. It's probably best not to mention this to Mom if you see her in the supermarket again.") This book is well positioned for the back-to-school crowd and is a fun choice for children who are a little young for Jeff Kinney's "Wimpy Kid" books (Abrams) but enjoy a similar format. The illustrations will empower readers to believe they can write a similar story. This one is more enduring than most back-to-school titles.—Alison Donnelly, Collinsville Memorial Public Library, IL

School Library Journal