Miss Viola Swamp
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"Miss Viola Swamp" is styled as "the meanest substitute teacher in the whole world", in three picture books by Harry Allard and James Marshall, entitled Miss Nelson is Missing!, Miss Nelson is Back, and Miss Nelson Has a Field Day.
| Miss Nelson is Missing! | |
| Author | Harry Allard James Marshall |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Subject(s) | Teachers (fiction) Schools (fiction) |
| Publisher | Houghton Mifflin |
| Publication date | 1977 |
| Media type | |
| Pages | 32 |
| ISBN | ISBN 0-395-25296-2 |
[edit] Miss Nelson is Missing!
Miss Nelson is a grade-school teacher whose students constantly take advantage of her nice nature. After an especially rowdy day in Miss Nelson's class, her students discover that she is not coming to school the next day. "Now we can really act up," yells one of the students (Allard, 8). However, before they get the chance to make mischief, a substitute, Miss Viola Swamp, shows up. Swamp is a strict disciplinarian and gives the students significantly more school work than Miss Nelson ever did. The contrast between the two teachers is so great that the students actively go looking for Miss Nelson and make unlikely conjectures about what may have happened to her. The following day, Miss Nelson returns to class and the children rejoice. At the end of the book, it is implied that Miss Viola Swamp was Miss Nelson in disguise.
| Miss Nelson is Back | |
| Author | Harry Allard James Marshall |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Subject(s) | Schools (fiction) Child guidance/behavior (fiction) |
| Publisher | Houghton Mifflin |
| Publication date | 1982 |
| Media type | |
| Pages | 32 |
| ISBN | ISBN 0-395-32956-6 |
[edit] Miss Nelson is Back
After Miss Nelson informs the class that she will be absent for a week, the class fears that they will again have Miss Viola Swamp as their substitute. Their fears are momentarily relieved when Mr. Blandsworth, the school principal, substitutes. However, Mr. Blandsworth gives extremely boring lectures and so the students plan a scheme to disguise themselves as Miss Nelson in an attempt to lead Mr. Blandsworth into thinking that his services as a substitute teacher are no longer necessary. This works in the morning, however after Miss Nelson finds out about the scheme, the "real" Miss Viola Swamp substitutes for her class the next day. Once order is reestablished by Miss Swamp, Miss Nelson returns to class.
| Miss Nelson Has a Field Day | |
| Author | Harry Allard James Marshall |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Subject(s) | Teachers (fiction) Schools (fiction) |
| Publisher | Houghton Mifflin |
| Publication date | 1985 |
| Media type | |
| Pages | 32 |
| ISBN | ISBN 0-395-36690-9 |
[edit] Miss Nelson Has a Field Day
The Horace B Smedley School football team, the Smedley Tornadoes, "hadn't won a game all year. They hadn't scored even a single point" (Allard, 6-7). When Miss Nelson overhears some of her students complain about the team at Lulu's, the local ice cream parlor, she decides to shape up the team by again becoming Miss Viola Swamp, her alter-ego, and substitutes for the present coach, who "had cracked up" (Allard, 10). Coach Swamp applies her trademark discipline to the team and they start getting better. At the end of the story, the Tornadoes beat the opposing team "seventy-seven to three."
