SHOW AND TELL

Woody Baldwin is a perpetual victim of circumstance—at least, that’s what it seems when the new student teacher comes to class and “changes everything.” Suddenly, former “Good Citizen” Woody is in all kinds of trouble, and he makes an enemy of Miss Plunkett. Since he already has an enemy, shouldn’t he have a best friend—Billy, the class troublemaker? Ethan, the sad, quiet neighbor who spends his afternoons at Woody’s house, waiting for his mother to come home from work? Woody’s search for friendship and his accidental adversarial relationship with Miss Plunkett are the focus of this short, amusing chapter book from Greene (Owen Foote, Soccer Star, p. 266, etc.). Life in the second grade is made even more comical by Woody’s hilarious observations (his regular teacher has a look similar to an airport’s searchlight) and his quirky habits (e.g., bringing his dead pet fish to show and tell). Readers will empathize with this well-intentioned hero’s mishaps and be touched by his eventual understanding of Miss Plunkett and Ethan. (b&w illustrations) (Fiction. 6-8)