Giveaway: Dear Teacher, I Can’t Come to School Because …

By Bianca Schulze, The Children’s Book Review
Published: July 1, 2010

Dear Teacher, by Amy Husband, is a brightly illustrated collection of letters from Michael, a very imaginative boy, to his teacher, telling her all the reasons he simply cannot make it to the first day of school. And, we have one copy to giveaway to one of our readers. This prize might just be what you need by the time summer comes to an end—don’t worry, you still have many weeks to enjoy!

Reading level: Ages 5-8

Paperback: 24 pages

Book overview: In his witty letters (sometimes half-eaten by crocodiles) Michael explains that he really wants to come to school but the Secret Service has recruited him to rescue a lost explorer on Mount Everest. His adventures continue from there to include a treasure map, a pirate king, and a rocket to the moon on a mission for NASA. But Michael gets a surprise when he receives his teacher’s clever response to his letters. The unique envelope closure for the book completes the package!

Originally published in the UK, Dear Teacher has been shortlisted for both the 2010 Cambridgeshire “Read it Again!” Children’s Book Awards and the 2010 Sheffield Children’s Book Award, both child-selected awards.

Excerpt:

Dear Michael,
We are looking forward to welcoming you back to school for the start of the new year. I hope you have had a really fun break and are ready to dive into lots of learning!

This year your class will be working especially hard in math, history, geography, and English. I am sure that if you study carefully, you will find those spelling tests can be a fun challenge!

Your new teacher is called Miss Brooks. She has all sorts of exciting plans for the new year. We look forward to seeing you on Monday.

Yours sincerely,
Mr. N. T. Grindstone
Principal

Dear Teacher,
I might be a bit late for the first day of school. The weirdest thing happened today. The head of the secret service turned up! They need me for a special secret mission to find a missing explorer. I did mention the math test, but he just said that the future of the country depends on me. I couldn’t say no. Sorry Miss Brooks.

From,
Michael

How to enter:

• Leave a comment in the comments field below.

• An extra entry will be given for each time you twitter about the giveaway and/or blog about it. You will need to paste the link in a separate comment to make this entry valid. Click here to follow us on Twitter. (Maximum entries: 3)

Giveaway Rules:

• Shipping Guidelines: This book giveaway is open to participants with a United States mailing address only (international readers can enter if they have a friend in the United States who can accept their prizes by mail.)

• Giveaway begins July 1, 2010, at 12:01 A.M. PST and ends July 29, 2010, at 11:59 P.M. PST, when all entries must be received. No purchase necessary. See official rules for details.

Sponsored by Sourcebooks Jabberwocky.

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