“Miss Nelson is Missing,” by Harry Allard, illustrated by James Marshall.
Houghton Mifflin, New York, 1977, 32 pages, Grades K-2.
Classroom discipline is always difficult for teachers. In elementary school, students are often fidgety and need to move about. This makes it difficult to teach certain subjects, such as reading, that require focused attention.
While regular teachers know how to work with their classes, substitute teachers are literally thrown into battle. Students know the substitutes will be gone in a day or two, which makes keeping classroom discipline more complicated. Harry Allard has written a hilarious account of one substitute teacher’s trials and plans to tame her class. The name of this funny book is “Miss Nelson is Missing.”
There is no way around it: the kids in Room 207 are a misbehaving, rough lot. Their teacher is a sweet woman named Miss Nelson. She tries to encourage the students to learn through kindness and story hours. The children view her gentleness as an opportunity to cut-up and not study.
Miss Nelson is perplexed. What should she do? The stress grows on the gentle woman and she comes down with a sore throat.
After calling in sick, Miss Nelson begins planning a way to get her students to obey. Meanwhile, the pupils in Room 207 eagerly await their substitute teacher and plan to disrupt class with spitballs and paper airplanes. Giggling with delight, they hear the door open.
To their utter surprise, a fierce-looking woman in a black dress glares at them. She announces in a grating, scratchy voice: “I am your new teacher, Miss Viola Swamp.” She raps a ruler on the desk and tells the children to take out their arithmetic books. She looks so daunting in her black dress that the students think she is a witch. Soon the children are frantically adding up numbers and studying grammar, poetry and social studies.
Room 207 has become an intellectual factory with a mean and severe boss. When the day ends, the students slink away from the school. Where was Miss Nelson? Oh, how they miss her. If only Miss Nelson would recover from her illness.
The students begin hypothesizing about Miss Nelson’s plight. Has she been injured? Has she left town? They especially feared the next school day when Miss Viola Swamp returned. The new day dawned and the children cowered in Room 207. The door creaked, and they quaked. Could it be that The Swamp was back?
Who walked into Room 207? What did the children learn about the qualities they most wanted from a teacher? Did Miss Nelson learn anything from the experience? Where did Miss Viola Swamp’s black dress go?
Have you ever had a substitute teacher? Did you welcome her, or did you cause trouble in class? What do the children in Room 207 discover? To find out, go to the library and read this delightful story, “Miss Nelson is Missing,” by Harry Allard.
There is a sequel to this title named “Miss Nelson is Back.” It is as funny as the first book. James Marshall draws the zaniest, funniest characters you are likely to encounter in picture books. He unfortunately died at the age of 50 in 1992. His work became so loved that in 2007, 15 years after his death, the American Library Association awarded him the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award for his “substantial and lasting contribution” to children’s literature. If you want an enjoyable evening with the younger members of your family, check out one of the Miss Nelson books and read it as a family. It is great fun. Enjoy!
