Mouth Moths: More Classroom Tales [Hardcover]

Douglas Evans (Author), Larry Di Fiori (Illustrator)

Book Description

Age Level: 7 and up | Grade Level: 2 and up | Series: Classroom Tales

One of the four rules posted above the blackboard in the tall teacher's classroom is "Raise your hand to talk," but Paul can't seem to stop himself from just blurting out whatever he has to say - that is, until confetti-like moths begin fluttering around his face every time he opens his mouth. Not surprisingly - given the way things work at W. T. Melon Elementary School - there is a solution that Paul soon comes to learn. And so it goes with Kimberly, who has a bad habit of cutting in line, and Zachary, who can't seem to stay put in his chair.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 2-4–Using a wooden block for a writer's block and twisted metaphors to describe puzzling punctuation, the kids of W. T. Melon Elementary School endure wacky takeoffs of third-grade situations in order to reap some thinly veiled lessons on good behavior. Paul comes down with a case of Mouth Moths, little pink insects that live in children's Adam's apples, and the only cure to keep the lemon-flavored bugs from flying out of his mouth seems to be to raise his hand. Zachary, who has probably never heard of The Old Gray Mare, rides a wild gray chair in order to tame his restlessness and inability to sit still at his desk. Test-taking can be particularly stressful without the addition of a trench-coat-wearing shadow from the Iowa Test Site that appears in the closet near Loren. Other strange men who appear only to the children include Anta Claus from Antarctica, who checks for students' names on his can't list, singling out those who never try. While most of the ideas here are clever, early-chapter-book readers are likely to get lost in the language. Illustrations of the teacher and the custodian in the sporadic spot art are so much alike that kids will wonder if they are actually the same person in different clothes. Students will choose to stay away from this classroom at the end of the hall, as should librarians with limited budgets.–Cheryl Ashton, Amherst Public Library, OH
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

The third entry in Evans' classroom-tales collection presents more zany, mysterious happenings in the "classroom at the end of the hall." Some third-graders are having a hard time. Paul, who can't stop blurting things out, discovers that he has icky "mouth moths"; Zachary has difficulty staying seated until his chair suddenly becomes a bucking bronco. While creatively presenting familiar challenges, the nine stories are both entertaining and supportive. Small, witty cartoons add punch to the selections. Shelle Rosenfeld
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 7 and up
  
• Hardcover: 112 pages
• Publisher: Front Street Press (August 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1932425233
• ISBN-13: 978-1932425239
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.9 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,348,192 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Douglas Evans the author of children's books, plays, poems, comics, and music. His books include MVP*:Magellan Voyage Project, The Elevator Family, Apple Island, and the collections of classroom tales: Classroom at the End of the Hall, Math Rashes, and Mouth Moths. He holds a master's degree in education and has taught for twenty years in settings ranging from a small logging town in Oregon to international schools in Helsinki and London. He currently lives in Berkeley, California. Find out more about his books, plays, and music on his Web Site at: http://www.wtmelon.com/

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Funny Short Stories, July 7, 2007

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Mouth Moths: More Classroom Tales (Hardcover)

This is the third book in the Classroom at the End of the Hall Series and it has more funny classroom creatures such as Sub Dude, Anta Claus from Antarctica, and the Old Gray Chair. The story Mouth Moths was my favorite. Read all three books and you'll enjoy them.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fun story of a mysterious classroom's odd events, December 9, 2006

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mouth Moths: More Classroom Tales (Hardcover)

Paul is admonished to raise his hand to talk in class - but he can't stop himself from blurting out whatever he has to say - until moths begin fluttering each time he does so. He's the only one to see them, so he's the one who has to come up with a solution in this fun story of a mysterious classroom's odd events, spiced with black and white drawings by Larry Di Fiori.

4.0 out of 5 stars Funny Characters, April 20, 2009

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Mouth Moths: More Classroom Tales (Hardcover)

I like the characters Anta Claus, Sub Dude and the rest but these stories aren't as good as the ones in the two other classroom series books, CLASSROOM AT THE END OF THE HALL and MATH RASHES.