The Trouble With Miss Switch

Miss Switch

by Barbara Brooks Wallace, Hal Frenck (Illustrator)

What do you do when you discover that your new fifth-grade teacher, Miss Switch, is an honest-to-goodness, broom-flying, card-carrying witch who has arrived at your school actually requiring the help of your great scientific brain to help her solve a serious problem? Well, if you are Rupert P. Brown, III, owner of said brain, you help her, naturally, ending up doing some broomstick flying yourself, and going on a hair-raising journey to confront a whole flock of witches and the crazy computowitch, source of Miss Switch's problems. The Trouble With Miss Switch and its sequel, Miss Switch to the Rescue, televised as ABC Weekend Specials, were the highest rated shows of that series. Not hard to guess why!

Genres: Childrens, Fantasy

132 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 · Rating 5 out of 5]

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 · Rating 5 out of 5]

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

[Alexis Allinson · Rating 5 out of 5]

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 · Rating 5 out of 5]

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 · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[Kevin Splady · Rating 5 out of 5]

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 · Rating 5 out of 5]

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 · Rating 4 out of 5]

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 · Rating 4 out of 5]

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 · Rating 4 out of 5]

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) · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not her best.

[Diana · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved this book when I was a kid.

[Rebecca · Rating 2 out of 5]

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

[Hilary · Rating 5 out of 5]

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

[Don Gubler · Rating 3 out of 5]

Okay, has its moments of imagination.