Author: Henry Allard

Illustrator: James Marshall

Publisher and Year: Houghton Mifflin Company 1977

Number of pages: 32

Genre: Fiction

Analysis

            The students in classroom 207 are always misbehaving and disrespectful to their lovely teacher, Miss Nelson. One day, Miss Nelson does not show up and the kids believe they can really goof off, but are instead introduced to their mean substitute teacher. Suddenly the kids are scrambling to find Miss Nelson and bring her back.

This book can serve as a mirror for some students who get into a lot of trouble and who might be disrespectful. Even though the punishment for misbehaving might not always be a substitute teacher, the consequences will still stand and punishment will be given out. While the book is meant to be funny, it can serve as a purpose to show students how to behave correctly towards their teacher(s).

Perceptual- at the beginning of the book, the children are very rude and disrespectful to Miss nelson. After dealing with Miss Swamp, their horrible substitute, Miss Nelson returns and suddenly the children no longer misbehave and are very polite and quiet. Detective McSmogg is not very much help considering he only points out the obvious.

Structural- The text does not have a particular pattern or place that it is located. Sometimes it is located on the page underneath the pictures, or other times it is on the opposite page of the pictures. Some of the pictures are in a rectangular shape and others are in a round shape.

Ideology- Miss Nelson disguises herself as Miss Swamp and becomes the new substitute teacher. She scares the kids and forces them to do very large amounts of homework, more than they are used to. Scaring children into behaving correctly is not a good tactic to use in a classroom, but it does teach a lesson to children to be more respectful to teachers.