Author: Dan Gutman
Title: Mrs. Jafee is Daffy
Illustrator: Jim Paillot
Genre: Chapter Book
Subgenre: Humor, Fiction
Theme: Humorous story about what happens when Principal Klutz is away and Vice Principal Mrs. Jafee takes over.
Primary and Secondary Characters: A.J., Andrea, Ryan, Michael, Neil, Emily, Principal Klutz, Vice Principal Mrs. Jafee
Awards: None Found
Publishing Company: Harper Collins
Date of Publication: 2009
Brief Summary and How to Use With Students:
When Principal Klutz leaves for principal camp Vice Principal Mrs. Jafee is left in charge and boy is she daffy! Mrs. Jafee, is determined to try out all new ways that studies show students learn best. She has the students learn Yoga, study a spelling test underwater, and even reenacting the Civil War with water guns.
This book is very humorous and is full of ways to use in the classroom. Designed for a third grade reading level students can read it to help earn AR points. The students in the book are also having Civil War week where they are learning about General Jackson and General Grant. Some of the ideas in the book such as having the teacher dress up and pretend to be General Jackson and tell Civil War stories from his point of view can be very entertaining to students and allow them to get a better understanding of the material. Another idea that can be taken from the book is making the Civil War Hardtack crackers that the soldiers would eat during the war.
English Middle school teachers can also use sections of the book to go over parts of grammar. On page 5 and 18 teachers can go over how sentences can be ambiguous. An example, on page 18: Four grown-ups sitting in chairs playing violins! Then at the bottom of the page he has his thought of: Well, the chairs weren’t playing the violins. The people were. Then on page 11 the students were asked what vice means, such as in vice principal. The students listed various other definitions for the word. The teacher could use this example to go over homonyms. Also, on page 16 to 17 there is the sentence where A.J. says how he threw his cap in the air and it knocked over the eternal flame and set Emily on fire and Emily freaked out and knocked over the graduation cake…. and it just keeps going! This is a great example to explain subordinate and Independent clauses.
