Field-Trip Fiasco

January 1, 2015

K-Gr 3-Mrs. Hartwell and her second graders are back and are off to the zoo. Hoping to avoid the fiasco of their last trip to a natural history museum, the teacher is super-prepared-ultra-prepared-for this one. She has done her research and has nine foolproof tips for a great outing. Each and every rule comes in handy-"#3 Be prepared for delays. Food works," "#6 Bring lots of paper towels and an extra tee shirt," "#7 No matter what happens stay calm!"-with comical results. Kids will love seeing a parrot poop on Eddie (Rule #7 is invoked here). But Mrs. Hartwell also knows when to relax the rules a little ("#1 Give students a job to keep them focused and learning...and out of trouble!") and let the kids have a good time. Love's illustrations perfectly capture the children's expressions, actions, and abilities. There is plenty to see on each page, and readers will want a close look. Like the previous installments, this one is chock-full of humor and truth. Both teachers and their students will find it easy to relate to the characters and situations. Good pre-class trip or anytime reading.-Catherine Callegari, Gay-Kimball Library, Troy, NH

Copyright 2015 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

November 15, 2014
Mrs. Hartwell, of first-day, last-day and standardized-test fame, is back, this time trying to survive a class field trip. It's taken some time for the teacher to get over the last class field trip, but with some preparation, this time she thinks she is ready. And over the course of the day at the zoo, she carefully follows her handwritten list of field-trip tips, but her "handy-dandy, just-in-case-something-unexpected-happens bag" still gets some use. From a bus-related delay and a few minor scrapes to a serious need for some paper towels and a change of clothes, pith-helmet-clad Mrs. Hartwell is prepared for any eventuality, including the need to change her own carefully made plans. Teachers will certainly see the humor and gentle lessons in Danneberg's latest school story. The questions is, will kids be as engaged? The kids' mishaps are just as tongue-in-cheek as ever, but behind them is the fact that Mrs. Hartwell's writing assignment is keeping them from seeing some of the cool things the zoo animals are doing-maybe it's revealing too many tips of the trade? Love's illustrations are fun to peruse, and she masterfully portrays her characters' every emotion. But while Eddie's personality comes through loud and clear, the other students are rather generic, not like the class found in Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis' Twelve Days series. Not as strong as Mrs. Hartwell's previous outings. (Picture book. 5-8)

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July 1, 2015
After a fiasco on their last field trip, Mrs. Hartwell takes her students to the zoo armed with her list of field-trip tips ("Foolproof Field-Trip Tip #3: Be prepared for delays. Food works"). The humorous story is accompanied by Love's caricature-like illustrations, created using ink and transparent dyes, capturing the preparation, bus ride, and students working on their observation sheets.

(Copyright 2015 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)