Customer Reviews

Miss Switch Online

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I am a librarian with years of experience in the children's room of a city library. I love children's books and I remember the pleasure I had reading earlier Miss Switch books. So when I saw that there was a new Miss Switch after all these years, I pre-ordered it from Amazon.com. I'm happy to report that this book is just as original, clever, and funny as the first two, "The Trouble with Miss Switch" and "Miss Switch to the Rescue."

Children love Miss Switch books. One child, a girl of 10 or so, reported that she was going on a Christmas ski trip with her family, and was taking her copy of "The Trouble With Miss Switch" with her. She had read it seven times, she said, but couldn't bear to leave it behind because, "It's the funniest book I've ever read." The Miss Switch stories are the kind that captivate children like this ten-year-old girl. They stimulate the imaginations of children, who go on to create silly characters and unlikely plots of their own that are akin to those in the books.

In the latest book, Rupert Brown, "great scientist" (according to himself, anyway), once again records his hair-raising experiences and his escape from the machinations of the evil witch, Saturna. He has no magic, nor for that matter any great scientific powers at all. He doesn't need them -- he has Miss Switch. That only he and his friend, Amelia, know that Miss Switch is a witch, adds to his problems and adds to the fun.

Rupert's talking pets, two clever guinea pigs and a turtle who fancies himself an opera star, retain the same unique personalities they had in the first and second books. And in "Miss Switch Online" the animals are joined by a new pet, Fred, a cockatiel, who is priceless.

The snappish, crackling Miss Switch returns of course, and is once again a teacher adored by her students, this time in the unlikely guise of Miss Blossom, who has long, flapping eyelashes and bee-stung lips. We also have Grodork, a warlock and not incidentally Saturna's brother, whom she has planted at Pepperdine Elementary as the school principal the better to do her dirty work. Although he is the handsomest man in the world, alas, he is also the stupidest. It hardly takes a shootout at the old corral to dispose of him, but disposed of he is, in the end, just as humorously as we expect. Happily, Saturna remains intact and, one hopes, will return another day to give Rupert more troubles -- and to give readers more chuckles.

One or two things deserve mention. The clever computowitch from the first book is now a website. Computowitch.com features some of the worst poety you are ever likely to encounter. Nine-year-olds will be rolling in the aisles at Saturna's really bad verses. Also, the silly pseudo-Latin words that crop up periodically will, I'm certain, have children making up their own.

This book doesn't really fit into the "fantasy" genre. It belongs, rather, in the "humor" category, where it will find its way into the hands of children looking for giggles. Once again children will be captivated by the ludicrous situations in which Rupert and Miss Switch find themselves. It is fantasy, of course (though with one foot firmly planted in the real world), but it is primarily a very funny book, and it seems to me that our children can do with all the humor we can give them these days.

Everyone's favorite witch is back, and the many fans of author Barbara Brooks Wallace are welcoming Miss Switch's return with open and eager arms.
Written with Ms. Wallace's usual wit, charm and impeccable plotting, the story reunites young Rupert P. Brown III with his former school teacher, that most admirable witch, Miss Switch, about whom he says, "Once you've had the best, nothing else is ever going to seem that good."
The same can be said for Ms. Wallace's book. In an age of heavy, morbidly serious children's fantasy, MISS SWITCH ONLINE comes as a welcome breath of fresh air, jiggling the reader's funny bone and charming a new generation of children looking for a good read and a good laugh.
Don't miss this one. It's a winner.

I like stories where I could be the main character, like Rubert in this book. Rubert doesn't have magic powers and I don't have them. If Rubert did he wouldn't need Miss Switch. I wish I had a teacher like Miss Switch. She is scary and funny. This book is fun and I am telling my friends about it.

Snap, crackle, pop! Sharp, prickly (but with a heart of gold) Miss Switch is back at last! It's been too many years since she first appeared, but what's a few years to a witch once condemned to sweep Witch's Mountain for one hundred fifty
years? The crazy computowitch returns, but this time as wicked Saturna's web site computowitch.com. Rupert P. Brown again humorously records the story in his journal, but make no mistake about it, he hasn't a magic (or scientific) power to his name, and considers himself lucky to have Miss Switch around to save his skin, and that of his whole class at Pepperdine Elementary School. This book is as funny as the first two! I hope that Rupert doesn't wait one hundred fifty years, give or take, to record another encounter with the fantastic Miss Switch.

This long-awaited third installment of the Miss Switch series is sure to please old fans and new. This time Rupert and Miss Switch (disguised as a substitute teacher) take on the evil witch Saturna who's spreading her nasty schemes through the Internet. Pure light-hearted fun guaranteed to make kids laugh (especially during the Romeo and Juliet scene: "I didn't come here to get insulted...I came here to woo"), MISS SWITCH ONLINE rules!

My children (and I!) once all enjoyed THE TROUBLE WITH MISS SWITCH and MISS SWITCH TO THE RESCUE so much I was happy to learn of the new book, MISS SWITCH ONLINE. I gave copies to my grandchildren, and they LOVE it! They think this is a "really, really funny" book. They dislike writing letters, but thought everyone should be told about this new Miss Switch book, in case they haven't already heard about it. I suggested thaat I might write a letter for them, which, as all can see, I have!