Cari Best grew up in New York City, is a graduate of the
City University of New York, and received a Master's Degree in
Library Science from Drexel University, landing a job as the first
librarian at the newly built headquarters of the International
Reading Association in Newark, Delaware.
Her books have received many awards and accolades including a
School Library Journal Best Book of the Year, an Amelia Bloomer
Book List selection, a Charlotte Zolotow Honor Book, and an ALA
Notable, and she received the Ezra Jack Keats New Writer Award for
her first book.
She lives in Connecticut where she walks, gardens, laughs and reads
a lot.
Lisa Hunt would stay up late at night as a kid, scribbling
in her sketchbooks. Fast forward to today, and she still stays up
late at night scribbling in her sketchbooks. When not at her desk,
she can be found in the local coffee shop or at home waggling a bit
of string at an over-excited ginger cat.
When her beloved kindergarten teacher goes on maternity leave,
Mabel gently guides the substitute to be a better teacher and finds
a future career.
Her absent teacher’s influence is evident throughout, as Mabel
continually uses the lessons Mrs. Ampersand has taught the class to
cheer up her classmates, calm them down, give pointers to the new
sub (Mrs. Windbag), and help shape behaviors. For example, when
Albert starts making “mouth noises“ to mock the new teacher’s name,
Mabel points out that he’s disappointing Mrs. Ampersand, who taught
them “to be kind to every living thing.” And after patiently
listening to Mrs. Windbag drone on about natural gas (!) for over
an hour, Mabel asks to change the topic and teaches everyone about
bats (spurring Albert to check all the bat books out of the
library). Hunt’s brightly colored illustrations portray a diverse
classroom of students and teachers (Mrs. Ampersand is black, while
Mrs. Windbag is white, as Mabel appears to be as well). Though all
the students exhibit great body language and expressive faces,
Mabel is the only one with personality. The riffs on Mrs. Windbag’s
name—and its insulting nature—may largely go over readers’ heads,
but adults will chuckle when she pulls out her bagpipes and talks
about a hot air balloon ride.
Amply demonstrates that kindergarten lays the foundation for life,
both in the lessons learned and in the opportunities presented.
(Picture book. 4-6)—Kirkus
When her beloved kindergarten teacher goes on maternity leave,
Mabel gently guides the substitute to be a better teacher and finds
a future career.
Her absent teacher’s influence is evident throughout, as Mabel
continually uses the lessons Mrs. Ampersand has taught the class to
cheer up her classmates, calm them down, give pointers to the new
sub (Mrs. Windbag), and help shape behaviors. For example, when
Albert starts making “mouth noises“ to mock the new teacher’s name,
Mabel points out that he’s disappointing Mrs. Ampersand, who taught
them “to be kind to every living thing.” And after patiently
listening to Mrs. Windbag drone on about natural gas (!) for over
an hour, Mabel asks to change the topic and teaches everyone about
bats (spurring Albert to check all the bat books out of the
library). Hunt’s brightly colored illustrations portray a diverse
classroom of students and teachers (Mrs. Ampersand is black, while
Mrs. Windbag is white, as Mabel appears to be as well). Though all
the students exhibit great body language and expressive faces,
Mabel is the only one with personality. The riffs on Mrs. Windbag’s
name—and its insulting nature—may largely go over readers’ heads,
but adults will chuckle when she pulls out her bagpipes and talks
about a hot air balloon ride.
Amply demonstrates that kindergarten lays the foundation for life,
both in the lessons learned and in the opportunities presented.
(Picture book. 4-6)—Kirkus
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