The Class From the Black Lagoon

Thaler, M., & Lee, J. D. (2002). The class from the Black Lagoon. New York: Scholastic.

Summary: It's another scary day at the Black Lagoon . . . for the new teacher, Mrs. Green.

There's a new class coming for the first day of school and Mrs. Green is worried. Is it true that the class is really weird and that they put their last three teachers into early retirement? Will the students really turn into horrible ghouls as soon as they get to school?

Will Mrs. Green really need her ultimate survival kit to teach the class or tame the class?

Retrieved from: Amazon.com on November 25, 2019: https://www.amazon.com/Class-Black-Lagoon-Mike-Thaler/dp/0545085446/ref=sr_1_1?crid=144PSEMXXKVW&keywords=the+class+from+the+black+lagoon&qid=1574732320&sprefix=the+class+from+the+bl%2Caps%2C166&sr=8-1

Age level appropriate for this book: Kindergarten- 3^rd Grade

Justification: The Class from the Black Lagoon is a funny book that students will love. The illustrations in this book are hilarious and will be sure to get students’ attention. This book could be used for more than just enjoyment, as it could be used with the standard RL.3.7 (Explain how the specific aspects of a text’s illustrations contribute to an effect, including but not limited to creating mood, character and setting.) Because the illustrations are so detailed, the students could describe how these impacts the text. They could determine the mood of the book based on the illustrations, and how the characters show in the book affect this. It would be fun for students to try and determine what the author is meaning by the things he says. For example, one of the pages says, “They’re all virtuosos with Velcro, and drummers with pencils. Every part of their bodies is a musical instrument. Put it all together and you have a symphony orchestra.” While this sounds like a crazy thing, the teacher could help the students understand what the author is meaning: that students are often loud and don’t like to sit still. This would be great used as a first day of school book.

Review: I would read this story to my students in the beginning of the year. I would talk to my students about how some people have expectations about certain things in life, but they end up being different from what we expected. I really enjoyed this book and the illustrations were really good.

Retrieved from Goodreads.com on November 25, 2019: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3764075-the-class-from-the-black-lagoon?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=ZvSWLhnZTY&rank=5