I KNOW AN OLD TEACHER

When faced with a long weekend, Miss Bindley decides to bring the class pets home with her, promising her students she’ll take good care of them. But when a flea falls from her unkempt hair into her tea and she inadvertently swallows it, she has to get rid of it somehow. So she swallows the spider that crawls down her wall in the hopes that it will gobble the flea. The spying students cannot believe their eyes as the creatures their teacher swallows get larger and more beloved—they are the class pets, after all! When at last all the pets are gone, a student spies Miss Bindley staring at his friend. “ ‘Swallow a child?’ / The old teacher smiled… / ‘I would never do that!’ ” Gammell’s gleefully messy illustrations give children an original view of teachers’ private lives. His characters are full of personality, and textures seem to leap off the pages. This updated version matches the original in futility and repugnancy, but trumps it with a happier, deathless, ending. Class pets beware. (Picture book. 5-9)