Field-Trip Fiasco

by Julie Danneberg, Judy Love (Illustrator)

Overview

Sarah Jane Hartwell is back with a whole new grade-school challenge: a class trip to the zoo. 

After the stress of her last attempt at taking her class on a field trip (seen in First Year Letters), Mrs. Hartwell has a plan for an upcoming trip to the zoo—a plan that includes lots and lots of rules. Armed with her foolproof field-trip tips, she's determined that absolutely nothing will go wrong. Sure enough, her students prove that they can line up straight, walk quietly, and take plenty of notes—but everyone soon realizes that the hotly-anticipated trip is becoming a letdown. Can Mrs. Hartwell save the day from herself?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781580896726
Publisher:	Charlesbridge
Publication date:	01/06/2015
Series:	The Jitters Series , #5
Pages:	32
Sales rank:	684,226
Product dimensions:	7.80(w) x 9.80(h) x 0.40(d)
Lexile:	AD610L (what's this?)
Age Range:	5 - 8 Years

About the Author

After graduating from the University of Colorado, Boulder, Julie Danneberg became a teacher. In her classroom, she read many children's books and witnessed the profound impact a good book can have on a child. "I was motivated to try and write books like the ones I enjoy reading." Julie earned great success with First Day Jitters—the funny and engaging story of Sarah Jane Hartwell's first day at a new school. The surprise ending charms and delights readers time and again. Teachers and students alike love these stories, and they are perennial favorites for back-to-school. Julie lives with her husband and two children in Denver. She teaches at a local middle school where she garners ideas for her books. When she's not writing, Julie enjoys reading, quilting, gardening, and spending time with her family. Judy Love is a graduate of Rhode Island School of Design. She has illustrated numerous children's books, including First Day Jitters and Last Day Blues by Julie Danneberg. She lives in North Carolina.

Read an Excerpt

It was the morning of the field trip to the zoo. Mrs. Hartwell's students tumbled into the classroom. They were very, very, very excited. 
     Mrs. Hartwell, however, shuffled in slowly. She remembered the last field trip.

Editorial Reviews

Mrs. Hartwell and her second graders are back and are off to the zoo. Hoping to avoid the fiasco of their last trip to a natural history museum, the teacher is super-prepared—ultra-prepared—for this one. She has done her research and has nine foolproof tips for a great outing. Each and every rule comes in handy—“#3 Be prepared for delays. Food works,” “#6 Bring lots of paper towels and an extra tee shirt,” “#7 No matter what happens stay calm!”—with comical results. Kids will love seeing a parrot poop on Eddie (Rule #7 is invoked here). But Mrs. Hartwell also knows when to relax the rules a little (“#1 Give students a job to keep them focused and learning…and out of trouble!”) and let the kids have a good time. Love’s illustrations perfectly capture the children’s expressions, actions, and abilities. There is plenty to see on each page, and readers will want a close look. Like the previous installments, this one is chock-full of humor and truth. Both teachers and their students will find it easy to relate to the characters and situations. Good pre–class trip or anytime reading.
-School Library Journal

From the Publisher

01/01/2015
K-Gr 3—Mrs. Hartwell and her second graders are back and are off to the zoo. Hoping to avoid the fiasco of their last trip to a natural history museum, the teacher is super-prepared—ultra-prepared—for this one. She has done her research and has nine foolproof tips for a great outing. Each and every rule comes in handy—"#3 Be prepared for delays. Food works," "#6 Bring lots of paper towels and an extra tee shirt," "#7 No matter what happens stay calm!"—with comical results. Kids will love seeing a parrot poop on Eddie (Rule #7 is invoked here). But Mrs. Hartwell also knows when to relax the rules a little ("#1 Give students a job to keep them focused and learning…and out of trouble!") and let the kids have a good time. Love's illustrations perfectly capture the children's expressions, actions, and abilities. There is plenty to see on each page, and readers will want a close look. Like the previous installments, this one is chock-full of humor and truth. Both teachers and their students will find it easy to relate to the characters and situations. Good pre-class trip or anytime reading.—Catherine Callegari, Gay-Kimball Library, Troy, NH

School Library Journal

2014-11-04
Mrs. Hartwell, of first-day, last-day and standardized-test fame, is back, this time trying to survive a class field trip. It's taken some time for the teacher to get over the last class field trip, but with some preparation, this time she thinks she is ready. And over the course of the day at the zoo, she carefully follows her handwritten list of field-trip tips, but her "handy-dandy, just-in-case-something-unexpected-happens bag" still gets some use. From a bus-related delay and a few minor scrapes to a serious need for some paper towels and a change of clothes, pith-helmet-clad Mrs. Hartwell is prepared for any eventuality, including the need to change her own carefully made plans. Teachers will certainly see the humor and gentle lessons in Danneberg's latest school story. The questions is, will kids be as engaged? The kids' mishaps are just as tongue-in-cheek as ever, but behind them is the fact that Mrs. Hartwell's writing assignment is keeping them from seeing some of the cool things the zoo animals are doing—maybe it's revealing too many tips of the trade? Love's illustrations are fun to peruse, and she masterfully portrays her characters' every emotion. But while Eddie's personality comes through loud and clear, the other students are rather generic, not like the class found in Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis' Twelve Days series. Not as strong as Mrs. Hartwell's previous outings. (Picture book. 5-8)

Kirkus Reviews