The Brilliant Ms. Bangle - by Cara Devins (Hardcover)

About the Book

Book Synopsis

A brilliant librarian helps students to welcome big changes in this picture book by Cara Devins with illustrations from K-Fai Steele.

It's a new school year, and something is different. The students' beloved librarian, Ms. Stack, has retired. The new librarian, Ms. Bangle, is not the same! She has different ways of doing, well, everything! How will the students ever adjust?

Change isn't easy, but it can be a positive experience. With a bit of patience, and a lot of heart, it can be positively brilliant.

Review Quotes

"There were a few back-to-school-themed books released this year that were billed as being supremely funny....This book...did make me laugh. And, I loved it. Hilarious asides including references to lithographic printing, hemming pants, rotator cuff surgery, lesson plans and lima beans. Who could ask for anything more?"--Pat Zietlow Miller, Picture Book Builders

"In a sly picture book portrait of a schoolroom power struggle, Steele's cartoony young figures have wide googly eyes, expressive mouths, and palpable-feeling energy that aligns with their determination." -- Publishers Weekly, starred review

"A story that celebrates librarians, reading, and how the right teacher can ease the fear of change." --School Library Journal

"A charming portrayal of a whimsical trickster librarian who knows how to get kids reading." --Kirkus Reviews

"There's a new school librarian in town... She looks fun; she looks energetic; she looks ready to read! The kids, however, are not convinced. They brush off all of Ms. Bangle's attempts to engage them, but Ms. Bangle has a few tricks up her bright yellow sleeve. Sly humor, creative problem-solving, and a book series called Daisy (that really should exist) combine to help the children give Ms. Bangle a chance. An entertaining entry to add to "first day of school" collections." --Booklist

About the Author

Cara Devins was born and no one is going to dispute that! Don't even try. Where? Boston to Chris and Marie. Later Caitlin joined the party. Cara attended Boston College and went to grad school at NYU. It was in New York City where she wrote for everyone's favorite theater in the basement of a grocery store, Upright Citizens Brigade. Cara has also worked at Google since 2012. Her favorite children's book of all time is Eloise and no one should dispute that either. (The number of disputes here is getting out of control; it's just a bio!) She now lives in Brooklyn with her husband Patrick and their children Sienna and Wilson. The Brilliant Ms. Bangle is her first picture book.

K-Fai Steele is an author-illustrator who grew up in a house built in the 1700s with a printing press her father bought from a magician. She wrote and illustrated A Normal Pig and All Eyes on Ozzy! and has illustrated several other books. She was a James Marshall Fellow at the University of Connecticut, a Brown Handler Writer in Residence at the San Francisco Public Library, and an Ezra Jack Keats/Kerlan Memorial Fellow at the University of Minnesota. Born in Charlton, Massachusetts, K-Fai now lives in Lausanne, Switzerland.