My New Teacher and Me!

Yankovic and Hargis balance earnestness with goofiness in a story that pits the mundane against the incredible. On the first day of class, Billy arrives with more stories than a skyscraper, and his glowering new teacher’s objections only egg him on. As his yarns grow increasingly preposterous (“I just went on vacation with my dad and mom/ To an island somewhere between Norway and Guam/ Where the blueberry muffins grow right on the trees,/ And you flip inside out every time that you sneeze”), Mr. Booth attempts to restore order, and Billy responds with a defense of unconventional thinkers (Marie Curie, Martin Luther King Jr., and Gandhi make cameos) like himself. Ages 4–8. (July)