I’m Afraid Your Teddy is in the Principal’s Office – Jancee Dunn

Illustrations – Scott Nash

Teddy was the instigator of all of this. Somehow he managed to arrange for all of the children’s stuffed animals to hitch a ride to school today.

From there they caused mayhem far and wide, from the mess that was formerly the cafeteria to their imaginative use of the finger paint.

They even managed to solve the mystery of what goes on behind the doors of the teachers’ lounge.

This story is really cute and Scott Nash’s illustrations are adorable. The pictures depicting the hijinks of Teddy and his friends are colourful and the stuffed animals are very expressive.

This would have been a five star book for me if not for one problem – the lack of consequences for bad behaviour. Yes, they’re stuffed animals and are just so cuddly, but when Teddy gets a hug and told he didn’t really mean to cause such a ruckus, it’s a bit of a worry.

If you see the faces of these stuffed toys as they’re rampaging through the school, they don’t appear to care about the consequences. They just want to do what they want, when they want to do it. Young readers may have trouble understanding why they have consequences for their bad behaviour when Teddy doesn’t.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Candlewick Press for the opportunity to read this book.

Once Upon a Blurb

What do your favourite toys get up to when you’re at school? Teddy and friends bring their creative mayhem to the classroom in a gleefully vicarious comic romp.

What would happen if your teddy bear stowed away in your backpack and followed you to school? And what if your teddy convinced all your friends’ stuffed animals to come along for the party? Would you believe they might sneak into the cafeteria to play Pizza Disc, head to the band room to put bubbles in the wind instruments, make a clever glue trap for the art teacher, and roll around in finger paint as well? Luckily, the principal remembers what it was like to be young and may let the rambunctious teddy bear and crew off just this once. Author Jancee Dunn and illustrator Scott Nash bring Teddy and friends back for more mischief in a high-spirited tale of uninhibited fun.