My Teacher is a Monster

Brown, P. (2014). My teacher is a monster. NY: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers.

About the Book

In the story My Teacher is a Monster a little boy named Bobby was in Ms. Kirby's class. Bobby liked to through paper airplanes during class. Ms. Kirby did not appreciate his distractions; so she would stomp and roar in reaction to Bobby's choices. Bobby decided she was a monster. Every Saturday Bobby went to the park. One day Ms. Kirby was there too. The two had a discussion and started to see each other in a different light. By the end of the story each character had a better appreciation for each other, but Bobby still made poor choices at school sometimes and Ms. Kirby still became upset by his choices.

Visual Elements of Art Evaluation

Cartoonish – The book has cartoon like drawings. The book feels like an early graphic text like a comic book, with all of the text bubbles. The teacher is drawn as the boy’s imagination feels she should look based on the way she treats him. Then at the end of the book when the boy and the teacher become more understanding of each other, the illustrations change and the teacher is drawn more human like.

Literature Evaluative Criteria

Symbolism – I think the illustrations portray the symbolism in this book. The picture of the monster lends the reader into feeling the teacher might be mean to the boy. If the words were read without the pictures some of the underlying meaning would be lost. The view that just because you think someone might be one way does not mean they are, get to know the person better before you pass judgment.