Miss Nelson is Missing!
Encyclopedia
"Miss Viola Swamp" is styled as "the meanest substitute teacher
in the whole world", in three children's picture book
s by Harry Allard and James Marshall
, entitled Miss Nelson is Missing!, Miss Nelson is Back, and Miss Nelson Has a Field Day.
.
themselves as Miss Nelson in an attempt to lead Mr. Blandsworth into thinking that his services as a substitute teacher are no longer necessary. This works in the morning, however after Miss Nelson finds out about the scheme, the "real" Miss Viola Swamp substitutes for her class the next day. Once order is reestablished by Miss Swamp, Miss Nelson returns to class.
to the team and they start getting better. At the end of the story, the Tornadoes beat the opposing team "seventy-seven to three." But then at the very end it is revealed that Miss Nelson's sister actually was Coach Swamp in disguise (or, alternatively, her sister was posing as Miss Nelson while Miss Nelson posed as Coach Swamp).
Substitute teacher
A substitute teacher is a person who teaches a school class when the regular teacher is unavailable; e.g., because of illness, personal leave, or other reasons. "Substitute teacher" is the most commonly used phrase in the United States, Canada and Ireland, while supply teacher is the most commonly...
in the whole world", in three children's picture book
Picture book
A picture book combines visual and verbal narratives in a book format, most often aimed at young children. The images in picture books use a range of media such as oil paints, acrylics, watercolor and pencil.Two of the earliest books with something like the format picture books still retain now...
s by Harry Allard and James Marshall
James Marshall (author)
James Edward Marshall , who also wrote as Edward Marshall, was a children's author and illustrator....
, entitled Miss Nelson is Missing!, Miss Nelson is Back, and Miss Nelson Has a Field Day.
Miss Nelson is Missing!
Miss Nelson is a grade-school teacher whose students constantly take advantage of her nice nature. After an especially rowdy day in Miss Nelson's class, her students discover that she is not coming to school the next day. "Now we can really act up," yells one of the students (Allard, 8). However, before they get the chance to make mischief, a substitute, Miss Viola Swamp, shows up. Swamp is a strict disciplinarian and gives the students significantly more school work than Miss Nelson ever did. The contrast between the two teachers is so great that the students actively go looking for Miss Nelson and make unlikely conjectures about what may have happened to her. After many days of tyranny under Miss Swamp, Miss Nelson returns to class and the children rejoice. At the end of the book, it is implied that Miss Viola Swamp was Miss Nelson in disguiseDisguise
A disguise can be anything which conceals or changes a person's physical appearance, including a wig, glasses, makeup, costume or other ways. Camouflage is one type of disguise for people, animals and objects...
.
Miss Nelson is Back
After Miss Nelson informs the class that she will be absent for a week, the class fears that they will again have Miss Viola Swamp as their substitute. Their fears are momentarily relieved when Mr. Blandsworth, the school principal, substitutes. However, Mr. Blandsworth gives extremely boring lectures and so the students plan a scheme to disguiseDisguise
A disguise can be anything which conceals or changes a person's physical appearance, including a wig, glasses, makeup, costume or other ways. Camouflage is one type of disguise for people, animals and objects...
themselves as Miss Nelson in an attempt to lead Mr. Blandsworth into thinking that his services as a substitute teacher are no longer necessary. This works in the morning, however after Miss Nelson finds out about the scheme, the "real" Miss Viola Swamp substitutes for her class the next day. Once order is reestablished by Miss Swamp, Miss Nelson returns to class.
Miss Nelson Has a Field Day
The Horace B Smedley School football team, the Smedley Tornadoes, "hadn't won a game all year. They hadn't scored even a single point" (Allard, 6-7). When Miss Nelson overhears some of her students complain about the team at Lulu's ice cream parlor, she and Mr. Blandsworth say "HMMM". The next day Blandsworth dresses up as a witch saying he's Miss Viola Swamp, but everybody doesn't fall for it and Blandsworth says "Oh Rats! How can they tell?" But then Coach Swamp comes back and tortures the team. Coach Swamp applies her trademark disciplineDiscipline
In its original sense, discipline is referred to systematic instruction given to disciples to train them as students in a craft or trade, or to follow a particular code of conduct or "order". Often, the phrase "to discipline" carries a negative connotation. This is because enforcement of order –...
to the team and they start getting better. At the end of the story, the Tornadoes beat the opposing team "seventy-seven to three." But then at the very end it is revealed that Miss Nelson's sister actually was Coach Swamp in disguise (or, alternatively, her sister was posing as Miss Nelson while Miss Nelson posed as Coach Swamp).