Friday, March 17, 2017

My Teacher Flunked the Planet (Reprint) by Bruce Coville –OPTIONAL

Coville, Bruce My Teacher Flunked the Planet (Reprint) 191 pgs. Aladdin, 2014. $18.00 Content: Language: PG (Heck/Hell “swears”); Mature Content: G Violence: PG
In the conclusion to this series, at least I think, Peter is sent back to earth and given three weeks to come up with some reasons why Aliens shouldn’t destroy our planet. We learned in an earlier book that they don’t like our wars, how we treat our planet, and how we treat each other. Peter and his friends travel the globe with their teacher, learning about the highs and lows of humanity. Their connection with each other grows as well, and they discover that the loneliness they have always felt might be a symptom of the very thing that could save humanity.
This book is suddenly pretty serious stuff. The cover is the exact opposite, which could be a big problem in a library. This book shows the lows of humanity, which include murder, starving children, dead babies, breasts empty of milk, and war. I could see this book (based on the cover and the title) easily appealing to 2nd grade and up but the content is really upper elementary. I was pretty excited about the newly updated covers, but now I feel it puts me in a bind. It was a great story, with much food for thought, but it was pretty heavy for this audience.

EL, MS –OPTIONAL Reviewer: Stephanie Elementary School Librarian & Author.

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