Ms. Plum is the best teacher at Springtime Elementary School: after a year with her, every student in her class has blossomed. The secret is in the supply closet. Whenever students open it to replenish Ms. Plum's chalk or pencils, they discover an animal that fits in with their personality: Tashala, a cowboy wannabe, finds a stallion; smarty-pants Eric discovers a mind-reading parrot. Each critter is instrumental in teaching the children something important about themselves. The children can never decide if Ms. Plum is magical or if it is the closet itself that is enchanted. In the end, it doesn't really matter. Just like Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle, Ms. Plum weaves a kind of magic that is tailor-made to each child. And just like all great teachers, she knows how to help students get the best out of themselves. This book will have readers wishing and searching for a Ms. Plum in their own lives.

Gr 2-4 Nearly every child at Springtime Elementary knows there is something unusual about Ms. Plum's third-grade classroom although former students never say much about it. It seems that anytime they try to talk about it, something funny happens to their mouths. At the start of the school year, the class is curious and, maybe, a little scared to find out what's so special about Ms. Plum. They quickly learn that it's her supply closet. Whenever she asks students to get an eraser or pencil, they return with a mysterious animalone with a cure to whatever ails them. Jeremy, the gloomiest kid in the room, returns from the supply closet with a glowering raven that repeats the phrase "pig snout" until Jeremy dissolves into a fit of giggles. Nadia, a worrier, returns with a kitten that drowns out a classmate's doom-and-gloom comments with its purring. The book is reminiscent of Candace Fleming's The Fabled Fourth Graders of Aesop Elementary School (Random, 2007) in tone and telling. Readers will relate to the youngsters' problems and enjoy their magical resolutions. Illustrated with delightful black-and-white drawings and filled with clever and short vignettes, this fast-paced story is a good choice for struggling readers. Beth Cuddy, Seward Elementary School, Auburn, NY

The third graders in Ms. Plum's class know to expect the unexpected. Their teacher's supply closet contains just the right magical miniature creatures (e.g., tiny horse, squirrels, etc.) each child needs. The satisfying story features warm black-and-white illustrations.

Magic and common sense mix to create a wonderful year for Ms Plum, who could be Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle's granddaughter, and her third graders. Clever and understated Ms Plum sends one student per chapter into her magical supply closet, which smells of "chalk and chocolate and something lovely no one could ever quite name," and that student comes out with a miniature version of an animal that behaves in a way that adds to the students' understanding. For instance, Jovi, a refugee from an unnamed African country, retrieves a fierce falcon the children come to understand needs freedom. With lightness and humor, complemented by Portnoy's occasional black-and-white illustrations, Becker highlights the personalities of Everyclass: the whiner, the optimist, the showoff, the thief, the shy one. Readers will surely see themselves in the chapters and eagerly read on to see what will happen as the year unfolds. Ms Plum has some real teaching magic up her sleeve, and teachers who read aloud to their classes will want to begin or end their years with this one. (Fantasy. 7-11)