MOUTH MOTHS

Book Description: 
It's another school year at W.T. Melon Elementary School.  Once again a typical class of
third-graders  occupy the classroom at the end of the hall.  There's a boy who keeps forgetting to raise his hand when he talks
out.  There's a girl who always takes cuts and another who can't keep her hand to herself.  Of course, W.T. Melon has big plans
for this new crew.  Read the tales to meet Sub Dude; Burp, the School Alarm; Anta Claus; and many more classroom characters.

2007 Kansas Reading Circle

Reviews:   
Children's Literature - Anita Barnes Lowen
Kids and teachers alike will recognize most (if not all) of the students starring in each chapter
 of this funny collection of classroom tales. Only four rules are posted above the blackboard, 
but there are students in this class who can break them all. 
Meet Paul, who never remembers to raise his hand before he asks a question; and "Zack-in-the-Box," 
who cannot stay in his seat; or Kimberly, who is most certainly the Queen of Cuts
 (who does not want to be first in line) with her comprehensive "Ways to Take Cuts" list
—who has ever heard of a "Cut-Back Cut" or a "Cut-Corners Cut" or, the most daring one of all,
 the "Domino Cut?" And can a class survive the school day without subtraction? 
Funny and easy to read, this is a great book for the beginning of the school year when teachers
go over classroom rules. Kids will love it. 2006, Front Street/Boyds Mills Press, Ages 7 to 10.

Kirkus Reviews
There's something strange happening with the third grade at W.T. Melon Elementary School. 
Rumor has it that the school's founder is still alive, lives just above the classroom and makes things 
. . . different. By all accounts, this seems to be true. Paul, who speaks out of turn, comes down
with mouth moths-invisible creatures that fly from his mouth unless he raises his hand to speak. 
Kimberly, who cuts in line, mysteriously finds herself always last. Zachary learns that the reason 
he can't stay seated is actually because his chair is in need of taming. Hannah has trouble keeping
 her hands to herself until she finds that everyone she touches freezes. Loren comes to understand 
the value of tests when she becomes a test tester (with help from the class pet). And Matthew realizes 
the value of subtraction when his substitute, Subdude, makes it disappear entirely. 
Full of wordplay and accompanied by comical drawings, each stand-alone story in this collection 
contains a lesson about behavior that is never pedantic and always replete with warmth and humor. 
(Fiction. 7-10)

Booklist
The third entry in Evans' classroom-tales collection presents more zany, mysterious happenings 
in the "classroom at the end of the hall." Some third-graders are having a hard time. 
Paul, who can't stop blurting things out, discovers that he has icky "mouth moths";
 Zachary has difficulty staying seated until his chair suddenly becomes a bucking bronco. 
While creatively presenting familiar challenges, the nine stories are both entertaining and supportive.
 Small, witty cartoons add punch to the selections. 
Shelle Rosenfeld  Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved