Fourth Grade Is A Jinx (An Apple Paperback)

Collette's teacher has an accident and Collette's mother becomes the substitute, which leads to lots of embarrassment for Collette, especially when her mom starts a fire during a science lab

Grade 3-5-- Collette is a nice little girl with nice friends and a nice teacher, all set to enjoy a nice fourth-grade year when the teacher breaks a leg in the classroom. Collette is horrified to discover that her mother has been asked to become the substitute teacher. However, after a week of tears and laughter, mini-mysteries and their solutions, Collette changes her mind about where a woman's place may be. She encourages her mother to return to teaching, and shows her willingness to take a little more responsibility at home. Life is full of exaggerated extremes for Collette. She is babyish and grown-up at once, clinging to her "mommy" and pushing her away. At the beginning of the week, Collette is resentful at having to fix her hair when her mother is too busy to help. By the end of the week, Collette can say to her tired mother, "Go in the livng room and relax. I'm old enough to fix dinner." One incongruous element exists in this otherwise realistic novel: Miss Haversham, the first substitute, is an awful stereotype of agism; unmarried at "seventy or eighty," she shrieks at the children, frightens them to tears, then walks out, violating every common-sense rule of dealing with children. This is a witch out of Grimm, but although she strikes a false note in the minds of adult readers, she sizzles with drama for students. --Ruth Semrau, Lovejoy School, McKinney, Tex.
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