Miss Nelson Is Missing

In the absence of authority, everyone suffers. Miss Nelson's children bounce off the walls; they even talk during story hour.

Miss Nelson--recognizing the discomfort in this situation--reinvents herself as Viola Swamp, who gets s**t done. Rules, rules, rules. No more confusion, no more misbehavior.

This isn't Shakespeare, but it's at least a work with clearly-defined problems and a creative solution. It's also a little lesson about social playacting, about the usefulness of a disguise. So many stories have that playacting bit--Hansel and Gretel, Red Riding Hood, Three Little Pigs, to name a few. Extra points for the James Marshall picture of an unmoored child standing on his head (which takes us back to Martha, in "The Job," mishandling her surfboard).....

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How to Host a Baby

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Liars and Saints

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