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When Miss Irma Birmbaum, the toughest, meanest teacher in town, assigns homework on Halloween night, the children all moan in despair. But when Miss Irma Birmbaum takes a detour on the way home and encounters a UFO that turns her into a 50-foot tall teacher, the trick-or-treating children are truly petrified. Their now-huge teacher scoops up the students and plops them in her enormous pu... More

When Miss Irma Birmbaum, the toughest, meanest teacher in town, assigns homework on Halloween night, the children all moan in despair. But when Miss Irma Birmbaum takes a detour on the way home and encounters a UFO that turns her into a 50-foot tall teacher, the trick-or-treating children are truly petrified. Their now-huge teacher scoops up the students and plops them in her enormous purse, then marches over to the principal's house to report them for not finishing their homework. Is there anything that will save these children from their big, scary teacher? Is it possible she remembers what fun it was to be a kid wearing a costume and stuffing herself with candy?

Clearly, Lisa Passen remembers. She also seems to have a pretty good memory for how it feels to be a tiny child at the mercy of seemingly giant authority figures. But she has the adult advantage of recognizing that Miss Irma Birmbaum is probably someone who just needs a little nudge to remember her own happier days and release the smiling self buried deep inside. The details are what tickle the reader's fancy: Miss Irma Birmbaum's itchy stockings, and her memory of herself as a smaller, smiley-er girl--complete with the same cat-eye-glasses and gray bouffant hairdo, plus pigtails. Would that all the mean, tough teachers out there could have life-altering run-ins with alien life forms. (Ages 5 to 8) --Emilie Coulter

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