The Trouble with Miss Switch

Miss Switch

by Barbara Brooks Wallace

Rupert Brown can tell from day one that Miss Switch is no ordinary fifth-grade teacher. Her whole look is about as comfortable as a steel knitting needle! Plus, she's in some serious trouble. It seems that Miss Switch has been condemned by a crazy contraption called a computowitch, and she must come up with some original witchcraft -- or she will be doomed to sweep Witch's Mountain for l50 years.

Can great scientist Rupert Brown and his friend Amelia Daley face the computowitch and the Witches' Council -- and get their favorite teacher of all time out of this mess?

Genres: Childrens, Fantasy

140 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1971

About the author

Award-winning American children's writer. Has received, among others, the NLAPW Children's Book Award and International Youth Library "Best of the Best" for 'Claudia' (2001), as well as the William Allen White Children's Book Award for 'Peppermints in the Parlor' (1983).

Wallace was born and spent her childhood in China, but then moved to the United States. San Francisco was often a port of entry for her family, who lived in a huge, white-pillared mansion on the side of a hill, later to become the Sugar Hill Hall mansion which served as the setting for some of her most popular books. She was a UCLA graduate.

Wallace won two Edgar Allan Poe Awards from the Mystery Writers of America for 'The Twin in the Tavern' (1994) and for 'Sparrows in the Scullery' (1998). 'Cousins in The Castle' (1997 and 'Ghosts in the Gallery' (2001) were also nominated for an Edgar Award.

Reviews

[Mark]

I love this book! I grew up watching "Miss Switch to the Rescue" on the ABC Weekend Special but never read the books and never watched the first special (gonna do that now). My only complaint - and it's pretty big - has to do with the ebook edition. It's full of typos - multiple typos per page! There are misspelled words, missing words, repeated words, repeated sentences, and even missing sentences! It's very distracting.

[Laura]

One of my favorite books as a kid - think I'll get it for my niece for Christmas this year.

[Alexis Allinson]

I haven't read this book since I was in grade school in the 1980s.
I enjoyed being able to reminisce as I read the book which ending moral was that technology isn't always better.
I strongly recommend reading it though it may seem a bit dated.

[LaTanya Griffin]

Very good book. I enjoyed every page. I wish there were more Miss Switch books available for our young generation

[Teresa Mankin]

Loved this book as a child, so I got it for my Kindle.

[Meg GlitteryOtters]

3.5 stars

[Kevin Splady]

Fond memories

I remember the TV special based on this book very fondly. Glad to see it was a good representation of the book.

[Stephen]

A fun read from my childhood that I enjoyed sharing with my daughter. I must admit that I left out a few lines indicating that only girls cry and that it was weird that a girl would be interested in science, but I'm not going to hold that against a book written in 1971. My only real complaint is that the book is no longer in print. How is that possible in this post-Harry Potter world? Surely a movie should be in the works by now.

[RebL]

This was my book when I was young, and I've kept it all these years. I read it to Sophia, who enjoyed it. It's a good story, and a fun book to read in chapters at bedtime.

Sophia (age 10.5) says, "I liked that the hero had a saxophone. You can compare her to Harry Potter and how many kinds of witches there are in books. Other kids should read this book."

[Katherine]

I read this one to Domenic and Alexis! We read a lot of bed time stories obviously! I was really impressed that they listened carefully and caught some of the hints about what Miss Switch was. They really enjoyed this one, as do I.

[Aerin Proffitt]

Important book of my childhood. I found a lot of myself in the protagonist. And I really really liked Miss Switch, a witch and a teacher. (subsequently, i grew up to be one of those things. go figure.)

[Kailey (Luminous Libro)]

Not her best.

[Diana]

I loved this book when I was a kid.

[Rebecca]

IT WAS MYSTIFYING. ESPECIALLY THE END ABOUT THE LITTLE GIRL.

[Hilary]

I registered a book at BookCrossing.com!
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/11246677

[Don Gubler]

Okay, has its moments of imagination.