Customer Reviews

Testing Miss Malarkey

5 star:		(27)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Having been on both sides of the coin, as a teacher preparing students for 'high stakes' tests, and as a writer of some them, I find this book to be right on the mark! I highly recommend it to students of all ages and teachers alike! The light-hearted approach to the subject of testing helps to put things in perspective. Research has shown that the attitude of significant adults-teachers, administrators, and parents, greatly impacts student self-esteem, expectations, and performance where testing is concerned. Use the book as a read-aloud to classses of any age, share it among the staff, and lend it to the parents. It has something to offer everyone, and truly passes the test!

"The Test"...Miss Malarkey said it wasn't important, it's not on your report cards, there's no extra homework and whether you do well or not, you still get promoted to the next grade. Okay, so why is she biting her nails? And why are we playing Multiplication Mambo and Funny Phonics at recess? The principal is tense and worried about number 2 pencils. The cafeteria is only serving fish, brain food. In art we're practicing filling in small circles and in gym, Mr Fittanuff is teaching us yoga. It's even a little weird at home. After my mom read me my bedtime story, she made me complete a review sheet before I could go to sleep. Finally the day of "The Test" arrives..... Judy Finchler and Kevin O'Malley have written and illustrated a charming, witty story, both youngsters and adults will really be able to identify with, that pokes fun at all the standardized test-taking kids are faced with these days. Their easy to read, true to life text and funny, expressive artwork will have teachers, students and parents laughing out loud as everyone goes a little overboard getting ready for "The Test." And after testing week, as everybody and everything gets back to normal, Miss Malarkey's class decides that maybe "The Test" really wasn't that important after all!

If you are a teacher who is giving a standardized test, this is the book for you! Our Media Clerk put this book in the staff lounge. It was an instant hit with us all! Reading about Miss Malarkey and her experiences with the "IPTU" test was just the "tension breaker" I needed! I found that I had said many of the same things to my students that she had! "No, this won't affect your grade" and "Yes, you will get to go to the next grade, even if you don't do well on this test." Bravo, Judy Finchler!!

I purchased this book in preparation for a presentation on standardized testing. It definitely added some humor to the dull subject.

How amazing that a "children's" book can get the idiocy of high-stakes testing, but we in education can't do enough to lower the stakes.

A must for any educator trying to make the point of how silly the tests are--or anyone trying to lower the anxiety level just before test time.

Slapstick,over-the top humor, that can appeal to a wide age group! Also a lot of tongue-in-cheek humor for adults and older kids. Great satire! The outrageous illustrations and plot correspond well to the outrageousness of a week of testing that each year puts whole school districts throughout our country in a tailspin! Great picture book with nice balance: Illustrations make the characters likeable and endearing. They work
hand-in-hand with the text to gently, humorously chide adults for too much malarkey, Miss Malarkey, and for subjecting our students to I-P-T-U testing.
J. Finchler, are you coming up with a sequel? Maybe on what state legislators will do with the RESULTS of these tests? Please reserve a copy for me now!!

Any teacher who has taught even a year recently well understands the horrors of testing, and days when there are more teachers than students in the nurse's office.

Testing Miss Malarkey deals with the testmania which is being inflicted on our children in a humorous, yet unfortunately accurate way. Schools may not be teaching how to color in circles in art class-but there are many which have eliminated art to make room for test prep.

I would also suggest Susan Ohanian's
"What happened to recess and why are our children struggling in kindergarten"-the adult side of the story, but the same, sad tale.

"Testing Miss Malarkey" was just purchased by a 5th grade teacher in our school. She read it aloud to her class with an enthusiastic response from her students. Now, we're planning to have this hilarious story read to all of our upper grade classes just before "THE TEST."

There's not much to add to the other favorable reviews already posted here, other than to say that "Testing Miss Malarkey" might help to relieve test anxiety for students just prior to testing. As with all good children's books, there's humor, or a message, for both kids and adults. "Miss Malarkey" does this quite nicely.

Personally, I got some chuckles out of the staff members' names. The cafeteria lady is Mrs. Slopdown, the art teacher is Mrs. Magenta, the PE teacher is Mr. Fittanuff, and the janitor is Mr. Surley.

I look forward to adding this title to our elementary school library and to seeing it be enjoyed for many years to come.

Okay, this book is not for kids, it's for teachers, principals, school board members, and others involved in that dreaded springtime ritual we like to call "Standardized Testing" (or as Judy Finchler calls it, the "IPTU Test"). The humor is there, it's just aimed at adults. Kids young enough to enjoy picture book won't get the scarcasm about the stress teachers and administrators go through each year but adults will howl with laughter!

As a teacher, I can honestly say NOTHING in this book is exaggerated...it's all true. The author must be or know a teacher, to understand how agonizing the standardized testing procedure is, and what a meaningless mystery it is to kids. Continuing in the same vein as Miss Malarkey Doesn't Live in Room 10, with a child's-eye-view of teachers, this one also has minimal text and outstanding illustrations. Forget the kids; give this book to a teacher-to-be, or put it in the teacher's lounge during testing week. It will be a sure hit and give them something to chuckle about before they go back to the classroom to say, "Make sure you bubble in the entire circle; make no other marks on the page, do not fold, spindle, or mutilate your answer sheet....."

The new school year brings standardized testing to Miss Malarkey's classroom as she, her students, and even the parents are preparing for The Instructional Performance Through Understanding Test. The school is in an uproar with the gym instructor teaching stress-reducing yoga instead of sports, parents giving pop quizzes on bedtime stories at night, the cafeteria serving "brain food" for lunch -- the kids are beginning to think that maybe the test is more important than they suspect! Aptly illustrated by Kevin O'Malley, Testing Miss Malarkey is an hilarious and original picturebook story by Judy Finchler that pokes fun at the commotion surrounding standardized testing, a fixed feature of today's school systems and of increasing importance for teachers and parents as well as for the kids!

Miss Malarky is getting nervous. Principal Wiggins is losing his toupee over #2 pencils. The lunch lady is serving only yucky fish instead of potato chips (fish for brain food).The art teacher is teaching about bubbling circles. The P.E. teacher is teaching about yoga and meditation for relaxation during the test. Parents are exchanging bedtime stories for reading comprehension. The whole school is being turned upside-down and homes are being done the same over the meaningless I.P.T.U. Test.

An interesting character was Mr.Fitenough because he actually thinks that yoga and meditation would help them relax when everyone around them was so nervous. "Testing Miss Malarkey" is defenatly a story on how sometimes, the kids don't get nervous before a test, the teachers and parents do.