More Tales from the Classroom at the End of the Hall by Douglas Evans

This story seamlessly weaves two culturaswhile letting each remain intact, just as Miguel is learning to do with his own life. Eventually, Tía Lola and the children swap English and Spanish ejercicios, but the true lesson is 'mutual understanding.' Peppered with Spanish words and phrases, Alvarez makes the reader as much a part of the 'language' lessons as the characters. She can also cook exotic food, dance (anywhere, anytime), plan fun parties, and tell enchanting stories.

Tía Lola, however, knows a language that defies words she quickly charms and befriends all the neighbors. The last thing Miguel wants, as he's trying to fit into a predominantly white community, is a flamboyant aunt who doesn't speak a word of English. When Tía Lola arrives to help the family, Miguel and his hermana, Juanita, have just moved from New York City to Vermont with their recently divorced mother. (Oct.Renowned Latin American writer Alvarez has created another story about cultural identity, but this time the primary character is 11-year-old Miguel Guzmán. Evans's imagery and wordplay are occasionally strained or redundant, but he compensates with many wry tidbits.

On a field trip there, Bradley separates from the group and encounters amusingly eccentric individuals who reveal the history of this outlandish land where lunch boxes sprout from the ground, boulders are made of chalk and paper grows on trees alongside an ink lake. Gross lives with the rest of the world's crabbiest teachers. The nine-year-old then learns that he and his classmates are victims of Operation Misteach, a plot hatched on Apple Island, where Mrs. Bradley realizes her thinking is a bit askew when she instructs her students that there's no need to put ''the dumb b at the end of climb'' and shows them a map of the U.S. Gross is wickedly off-putting, right down to the hairs on her chinny chin chin. If readers don't get the picture from the descriptions, Di Fiori's hyperbolic line drawings leave no doubt that Mrs. Gross (''The chinless face, the squinty eyes, and a thick lower lip pushed out in a permanent scowl reminded of an overripe apple''). Bradley is stuck with one nightmare of a teacher, Mrs. A teacher for many years, Evans (The Door at the End of the Hall) presents a whimsical, absurdity-charged satire.

More Tales from the Classroom at the End of the Hall by Douglas Evans