Miss Nelson is Missing: One Person, Two Costumes

Do you know the Miss Nelson is Missing book? It’s one of my all-time favorite picture books.

It’s about Miss Nelson, a sweet elementary school teacher who finds that her class has gotten a little out of control, and she can’t seem to pull it together. There are spitballs and rowdy behavior during story time.

The next day, Miss Nelson is mysteriously absent, replaced by a really terrifying substitute, Miss Viola Swamp, who quickly whips the class into shape and makes them long for the return of their sweet teacher (spoiler: Miss Nelson and Miss Viola Swamp are the same person).

When I worked as a librarian, I covered two elementary schools.

I’d do one week at one school and then one week at the other school.

The computer technology teacher, Elaine (who I still keep in touch with), had the opposite schedule as I did, so while I was at one school teaching library lessons, she’d be at the other school teaching computer classes.

One of the principals joked that the two of us were like Miss Nelson and Viola Swamp – never in the same place at the same time. It was possible, she suggested, that we were actually the same person.

So when I heard that today was National Book Lover’s Day, I knew immediately that I didn’t want to dress as just ONE book character, but two book characters.

And so I did.

Here’s my Miss Nelson costume:

and. . . . .

My Viola Swamp costume:

When I came out of my bathroom wearing the Miss Viola Swamp costume, Ella said, “You don’t look like my mommy.”

Happy Book Lover’s Day!

(And if you haven’t read Miss Nelson is Missing, go remedy that immediately. And follow it up with Miss Nelson is Back and Miss Nelson has a Field Day).

If you liked this fun idea about Miss Nelson is Missing, you might also like these other posts:

• 20 Fantastic Book Character Costumes
• Journey by Aaron Becker
• The 2018 List of 100 Children’s Picture Books