Thursday 29 December 2016

DELIGHTFUL KIDS BOOKS | 'The New Teacher' by Dominique Demers (****)

Hello readers, and happy Thursday! Today I am delighted to welcome you to another children's book feature, and yet again I am going to be featuring another gorgeous story published by Alma Books... The New Teacher!

The New Teacher is a wonderful story about a class of children, who one day, get a brand new teacher who is (to say the least) a little bit different... enter Miss Charlotte, the teacher who talks to a rock and wears a dress with boots and brings a wheelbarrow of cooked spaghetti to class... This is an utterly enchanting, gorgeously illustrated book with marvellous characters and the perfect combination of hilarious and heartwarming moments.

Intrigued? Check out the blurb here...


This book is the first in the series of Mademoiselle Charlotte's Advenutures where the main character keep on changing her identity and delight all children. In the first book she is a teacher, then she will be a librarian, after that a football coach, a minister and so on. Mademoiselle Charlotte is a modern Mary Poppins. The series has been very popular in Canada where it's adapted on television.

Mademoiselle Charlotte, the new teacher, is not like the others: she wears a large hat and a crumpled dress that make her look like a scarecrow, and she talks to a rock. The children think she is crazy at first, but soon realize she makes school more fun than ever, getting them to measure the room with cooked spaghetti in maths class, telling fascinating stories about a gorilla and even taking the pupils on at football.


The first book in Dominique Demers's popular series, The New Teacher, brilliantly illustrated by Tony Ross, is an entertaining, imaginative and inspiring book that will make you wish you had a teacher just like Mademoiselle Charlotte.

What I loved about this book was the constant action, adventure and excitement - the perfect combination for kids who need to get a bit more confident with their reading. The characters are all fabulous and extremely likeable - especially the eccentric and lovable Miss Charlotte. She jumped right out of the page and into my heart. Kids will love to read about the exciting lessons Miss Charlotte cooks up, such as demonstrating how people in the Medieval times used to eat, and measuring the classroom with cooked spaghetti. 

Although I whizzed through this book, I loved it throughout and found the mystery concerning who Miss Charlotte was, and where she came from, to be thoroughly gripping and intriguing. My favourite parts of the book were the illustrations by Tony Ross, which were wonderful and really made the story come alive. I also loved the description of the stories that Miss Charlotte would tell - these parts were so exciting to read and it depicted so well the magical power of storytelling, especially with children! The ending of the story was so well thought-out and bittersweet and, like any good book, left me wanting more!

Overall I really enjoyed The New Teacher and I think it is one of my favourite Alma titles I have read so far! So thank you very much for sending this title to me, Alma Books :)

The New Teacher is recommended for children aged six and upwards, but I think it would make a brilliant bedtime story to be read to kids younger than six also <3


Check out Dominique Demers here: http://almabooks.com/alma-author/dominique-demers/

Check out Alma's brilliant selection of children's books here: http://almabooks.com/alma-junior/

Until next time :)









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