Rescuing Mrs. Birdley

by Aaron Reynolds, Emma Reynolds (Illustrator)

Overview

In this wildly charming and fantastically imaginative story by the New York Times bestselling author of Creepy Carrots and Creepy Pair of Underwear, a young animal expert knows just what to do when she spots her teacher in the wild.

Miranda is an animal expert. Or at least, she watches a lot of Nature Joe. Nature Joe is incredible. He rescues animals, returning them to their natural habitat.

Mrs. Birdley is a teacher. The natural habitat of a teacher is a classroom.

So when Mrs. Birdley escapes school and ends up wild, loose, and confused at the local grocery store, Miranda knows just what to do: she must use her brain, her guts, and her extensive knowledge of Nature Joe to rescue Mrs. Birdley—at any cost!

This delightfully over-the-top picture book by newcomer Emma Reynolds explores the weirdness of seeing a teacher outside of school and will have young readers laughing out loud every time they read.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781534427044
Publisher:	Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers
Publication date:	06/30/2020
Pages:	40
Product dimensions:	10.20(w) x 10.20(h) x 0.50(d)
Lexile:	AD710L (what's this?)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Aaron Reynolds is the New York Times bestselling author of many highly acclaimed books for kids, including Here Comes Destructosaurus!, Carnivores, and the Caldecott Honor–winning book Creepy Carrots!. He regularly makes time to visit schools where his hilarious hands-on presentations keep kids spellbound. Aaron lives in Chicago with his wife, two kids, four cats, and anywhere between zero and ten goldfish, depending on the day. Visit Aaron at Aaron-Reynolds.com.

Emma Reynolds is an illustrator and author based in Manchester, UK. Amara and the Bats is her author-illustrator debut. Passionate about storytelling and creating unique characters, Emma has been dreaming of making her own books since she was five. Emma started the #KidLit4Climate illustrated campaign, bringing together thousands of children’s illustrators and authors from more than fifty countries in solidarity with the youth climate strikes. She is inspired by nature, animals, adventure, and seeing the magic in the everyday. Visit her at EmmaReynoldsIllustration.com. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram @EmmaIllustrate.

Editorial Reviews

"Aaron Reynolds' tongue-in-cheek text cleverly exploits the trope that educators have no life beyond the school. Emma Reynolds' digital illustrations highlight jungle green predominately, accented with neon purples, oranges, and yellows...compositions are attractively varied, ranging from full-bleed spreads to single-page art and smaller, paneled illustrations. The text's use of terminology borrowed from nature videos (becoming "aggressive" and "natural habitat") adds to the fun." - Booklist

"A fun story for all the kids who think their teachers live at school, because where else would they live?" - Kirkus Reviews

* "Reynolds, award-winning author of Creepy Carrots!, has delivered another gem and children will relish Miranda’s outrageous traps and the poor unsuspecting adults who are snared in them. A definite purchase for all children’s collections and an easy choice for a read-aloud." School Library Journal starred review

From the Publisher

★ 05/01/2020

PreS-Gr 1—Miranda Montgomery considers herself an animal expert—after all, she is a devotee of the "Nature Joe Animal Show" and has studied his techniques in detail. If there is one thing she has learned, it's that animals should always live in their natural habitat. Imagine Miranda's surprise and glee when she discovers one such animal outside its regular environment. Mrs. Birdley, Miranda's teacher, is at the grocery store when she clearly belongs in her classroom. Miranda is all systems go and after a few botched and very humorous capture attempts, she is able to secure Mrs. Birdley in a trash can and roll her back to school. Miranda then proceeds to lock her teacher in a classroom. However, there is no rest for young Miranda because the very next day she spies her principal at the hardware store. Well, what's an animal expert to do? VERDICT Reynolds, award-winning author of Creepy Carrots!, has delivered another gem and children will relish Miranda's outrageous traps and the poor unsuspecting adults who are snared in them. A definite purchase for all children's collections and an easy choice for a read-aloud.—Amy Nolan, St. Joseph Public Library, MI

School Library Journal

2020-04-12
Well-meaning nature buff Miranda has a bad case of overgeneralizing.

Miranda Montgomery adores the Nature Joe Animal Show, admiring the way the brown-skinned wildlife expert rescues wild animals who are lost or in distress and returns them to their natural habitats. With her Nature Joe polo shirt and green shorts on and her brown billowing hair, Miranda enters the grocery store to find her teacher, Mrs. Birdley, far from her natural habitat: school. She makes several failed attempts to capture the wily Mrs. Birdley—who is oblivious—but an oversized trash can finally brings her the success she has witnessed Nature Joe accomplish with lions, lemurs, weasels, and more. With Mrs. Birdley locked safely away in her classroom for the weekend, Miranda walks home confident…until the next day, when she spots yet another adult from school browsing wares in the home-improvement store. From this book’s bright green cover to its lively endpapers, readers feel Miranda’s assurance that her task is just as important (and as right) as Nature Joe’s. Despite Miranda’s suburban locale, every few pages her imagination overtakes the scene and overlays it with an all-green habitat where she becomes the rescuer. Her facial expressions aptly convey surprise and disappointment when her traps don’t work as well as Nature Joe’s, but when she succeeds, her confidence is palpable. Both Miranda and Mrs. Birdley have light-brown skin.

A fun story for all the kids who think their teachers live at school, because where else would they live? (Picture book. 3-8)

Kirkus Reviews