What Teachers Can't Do

by Douglas Wood, Doug Cushman (Illustrator)

Overview

There are lots of things that regular people can do, but teachers can't. Teachers can't ride a bike or scooter to school. And they can never be tardy. Teachers can't buy their own apples. And they can't teach their best without flowers on their desk. But first they really need some help cleaning the blackboard. And the erasers!
It's a wonder they come back to school at all!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780689846441
Publisher:	Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers
Publication date:	06/01/2002
Edition description:	Repackage
Pages:	32
Sales rank:	1,013,543
Product dimensions:	10.00(w) x 8.00(h) x 0.40(d)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Douglas Wood is the author of A Quiet Place as well as the New York Times bestselling Can’t Do series. His books Old Turtle and Old Turtle and the Broken Truth were both international bestsellers. He lives in a cabin in the woods of Minnesota. A studied naturalist, Douglas shares his knowledge of nature as a wilderness guide. Visit him at DouglasWood.com.

Doug Cushman has illustrated over 130 children’s books, thirty or so of which he also wrote. His titles have been New York Times bestsellers and won awards including the Christopher Award, the California Young Readers Medal, and two Maryland Blue Crab Awards. Doug was also the recipient of a National Cartoonists Society Newspaper and Magazine Illustration Award, and he has displayed original art in France, Romania, and the United States. Doug enjoys mystery novels, playing slide guitar horribly, cooking, and traveling. He lives in St. Malo on the Brittany coast in France.

Editorial Reviews

Douglas Wood goes back to school in What Teachers Can't Do, illus. by Doug Cushman, the follow-up to the popular What Dads Can't Do and What Moms Can't Do. Among the lessons learned: "Teachers can't buy their own apples. And they can't teach their best without flowers on their desk." (July) Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

Publishers Weekly

PreS-Gr 1-This mildly amusing child's-eye look at teachers is the third collaboration featuring clothed, yellow-green dinosaurlike creatures that tell about the things adults supposedly can't do. The text is made up of simple, mostly declarative sentences, usually one per page, and seems to stretch to make its point. Large, attractive pen-and-ink and watercolor illustrations depict a series of situations in which readers might observe a teacher. Sometimes the humor is in the child's interpretation: teachers can't buy their own apples, spell cat, or add 2 + 2; that they "can never be tardy" and "can't use the hall pass to go to the bathroom" may be a surprise to youngsters. The teacher's bottle of water in one picture is a modern touch, but cleaning blackboards and slapping erasers lend an old-fashioned note. While Joseph Slate's "Miss Bindergarten" series (Dutton) is superior, this title would probably be popular for start-of-the-school-year storytimes.- Louise L. Sherman, formerly at Anna C. Scott School, Leonia, NJ

School Library Journal

Following in the tradition of What Fathers Can't Do (2001) and What Mothers Can't Do (2000), Wood moves on to present a tongue-in-cheek look at the shortcomings of teachers. It is well-known that teachers are not allowed to be tardy and that they cannot ride skateboards to school, but readers might be surprised to discover that teachers cannot buy their own apples or that they "can't teach best without flowers on their desk." It's amazing that with all their knowledge they can't seem to spell the word "cat" or remember the solution to two plus two. Perhaps they are distracted by the fact that "they can't use that hall pass to go to the bathroom;" maybe it's that "teachers can't go down the tube slide at recess. . . ." But whatever their shortcomings, it's the things they can do that seem to matter. Hilarious and brightly colored drawings of the dinosaur teachers with pearls and glasses and dinosaurs preschoolers with backpacks and pigtails accompany the text. It seems that even after having paint on their clothes and chalk dust in their hair and lungs, teachers "can't wait to come back to school tomorrow." Somewhat saccharine, but worthy praise for an under-appreciated profession. (Picture book. 4-7)

Kirkus Reviews