A review by backonthealex
Dear Substitute by Audrey Vernick, Liz Garton Scanlon

4.0

Having been both a classroom teacher and a substitute teacher, I found this epistolary picture book just delightful. When a young girl discovers that her teacher, Mrs. Giordano, is out for the day and there is a substitute named Miss Pelly instead, she is completely thrown off course, documenting it all in letters written to the sub. And it seems Miss Pelly can't get anything right, from mispronouncing unfamiliar names, to cancelling a library visit, to putting off cleaning the class turtle''s tank until Mrs Giordano returns, to not recognizing our letter writer as the week's line leader, and to almost bringing her to tears at lunch over a sandwich swap. But after lunch, there's an extra story time. Miss Pelly reads some poems to the class and WOW! maybe our letter writer likes poetry and maybe Miss Pelly isn't so bad after all. The letters our narrator writes are full of emotion ranging from surprise to misgiving to critical to embarrassment. But these negatives all turn around in the afternoon, thanks to Miss Pelly's funny poems. The watercolor and gouache illustrations add needed humor to the situation, while cleverly catching the narrators changing emotions and perceptions of Miss Pelly throughout the school day. Although this is a book dealing with substitute teachers, it is also a good lesson in developing flexibility and accepting change and people's differences. I would recommend this be part of every elementary school classroom library since subs are a basic fact of school life.