Mrs. McBloom, Clean Up Your Classroom! (Hardcover)

~ Kelly S. Dipucchio (Author), Guy Francis (Illustrator) "It's a fact that nearly every school from Kennebunkport, Maine, to Chickaloon, Alaska, has one teacher whose classroom is a sorry, jumbled-up mess..." (more)
Key Phrases: Room Five, Principal Pumpernickel

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Kindergarten-Grade 2–Mrs. McBloom is retiring after 50 years of teaching, and it's time to clean up Room Five for her successor. But that's easier said than done. The classroom has become an ecosystem with trees and animals coexisting peacefully with odd mittens, sneakers, and piles of books. It's a magical mess. Eventually, her students arrive at a solution, and the whole town lines up to select one thing each from the clutter. The resulting yard sale makes enough to send the woman away on the fancy-shmancy cruise she had always wanted to take. The artwork's MAD Magazine-style characters are not very appealing, but the wealth of strange objects to be discovered on every page will engage readers' interest. Owls, woodpeckers, chipmunks, and hens that knit are ensconced with art projects, dinosaur fossils, playing cards, and baseballs. The room gradually grows more cluttered from the day Mrs. McBloom starts out in her '50s-style clothes (pictured in black and white), long before that Armstrong fella set his tootsies on the moon. The story is told in a folksy voice with a rollicking rhythm and rich phraseology. DiPucchio's language will stretch readers' understanding of the different ways that people can turn a phrase, with such expressions as eye-poppin', heart-stoppin', higgly-piggly, and smack-dab sprinkled throughout the text. And kids will relish the idea that adults, too, sometimes need to clean their rooms.–Jane Barrer, Washington Square Village Creative Steps, New York City
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

K-Gr. 2. Classroom clutter and chaos are fun in this picture book, and so is the sense of everyone in a small town pulling together. Mrs. McBloom has taught at Knickerbocker Elementary for nearly 50 years, and she has never once cleaned her classroom. Now she is due to retire, and everyone wonders how she will ready the room for the new, young teacher. One small pupil comes up with the solution, and every former student in town comes to take something away. The comic pictures are packed with all kinds of objects, and the cleaners uncover more things when they begin work, including a library book 35 years overdue and three buffalo nickels. The beloved, eccentric teacher gets a fond send-off. The nostalgic images (a picture of Elvis on an old lunch box) will mean more to adults than kids, but children will still enjoy the messy farce. Hazel Rochman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 4-8
  
• Hardcover: 32 pages
• Publisher: Hyperion Book CH (August 2, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786809329
• ISBN-13: 978-0786809325
• Product Dimensions: 10.9 x 9.1 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #43,350 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Golden Apple for Mrs. McBloom, September 27, 2005

By	Ciaramine "ciaramine" (Barrington Hills, IL United States) - See all my reviews

Who wouldn't want a fun, creative teacher like Mrs. McBloom? Children will want to read this book quickly to discover how Mrs.McBloom manages to clean up her classroom, but they will read it over and over to discover all the funny images hidden among the clever illustrations. This book is a warm and humorous tribute to every "favorite" teacher and to each one's importance in our lives.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Elementary Teacher, November 19, 2008

By	Mary Philliber (Catoosa, Oklahoma) - See all my reviews

Mrs. McBloom is a wonderful, fun teacher. Messy, yes. I read aloud this book to several groups of second and third graders. They loved Kelly Dipuchhio's lively language. "Oh, higgly-piggly! It's on my To-Do list."
Students laughed at the colorful, creative illustrations by Guy Francis. They had never seen an apple tree growing in a classroom.
Teachers complimented my choice noting the story kept students' attention. Mrs. McBloom made everyone laugh.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fabulous book!, July 31, 2008

By	Virginia Mommy (Alexandria, VA) - See all my reviews

My daughter's kindergarten teacher is retiring next year and I can't WAIT to get this book for her. Mrs. McBloom is the teacher that you want your kids to have. It is a touching tribute to that retiring teacher who changed your life....and the kids love it. There is so much to look at and watch through the book. The apple tree seedling grows into a tree...It's just good on so many levels.