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The Story About Ping

The Story About Ping by Marjorie Flack and Kurt Wiese, 1933.

Ping is a small duck who lives with his family on a boat on the Yangtze River in China.  Every morning, the master of the boat lets the ducks out to look for food on the river, and every evening, he calls them back. 

However, Ping hates it that the master gives the last duck to return at the end of the day a spank on the back, so when he realizes that he is late to return one day, he hides and is left behind.

After sleeping on the river bank overnight, Ping sets out to find his family the next day.  However, there are many different boats on the river, and he has trouble finding the one where his family lives.  As he searches, he is captured by a boy who brings him onto his family’s boat.

To Ping’s horror, the family who captured him plans to eat him for dinner!  However, the boy who grabbed Ping out of the water thinks that he’s “too beautiful to eat.”  Without letting his family know, the boy frees Ping from the basket where he is being held captive.

As Ping swims away from the boy’s boat, he hears the master of his family’s boat, calling out for the ducks to return.  This time, Ping does return to his family’s boat, even being willing to take a spank for being late, glad just to be safe with his family.

In a way, this little story reminds me of one of the short humor stories in Wayside School is Falling Down.  In that story, a boy at a very strange school gets tired of following the school’s rules.  Some mysterious men explain to the boy that the rules are meant to keep the students safe and choosing whether or not to follow the rules means choosing between freedom and safety.  The story and the boy’s choice are meant to be humorous, but it is a good point about the purpose of rules.  Probably, the reason why the master on Ping’s boat spanks the last duck is to give all of the ducks a reason to hurry back to the safety of the boat.  Ping doesn’t really appreciate that until he sees the dangers that wait for a small duck, alone on the river.  In the end, he is willing to accept some discipline because he wants the safety it promises.  It’s not the usual message in a lot of modern children’s books, especially in the United States, where people and book characters tend to value freedom over safety (the choice made by the boy in the Wayside School book).  However, in this book, Ping and his family have something between total freedom and total captivity – they are allowed to swim pretty freely during the day as long as they return to the boat for safety at night. They get both some freedom and safety in exchange for following the master’s routine. Ping’s danger only comes when he breaks away from that entirely.

But, if you think that analysis is getting too deep, Ping’s adventures and his return to the safety of his family are endearing for lovers of animal stories. Kids who encounter this story will be reassured that Ping is still able to return to home and safety after his adventures!

The story has appeared in film and on television more than once. The book is available to borrow and read for free online through Internet Archive (multiple copies).

Posted on by TracyC · 1 Comment

Miss Nelson Has a Field Day

NelsonFieldDay

Miss Nelson Has a Field Day by Harry Allard and James Marshall, 1985.

Everyone at school is disappointed in the school’s football team.  Even the team itself thinks that they’ll never have a chance at winning, so they don’t bother to practice.  They refuse to listen to their coach and spend all of their time goofing off.  Finally, the coach starts to crack mentally from the strain, and Miss Nelson decides that something needs to be done.

NelsonFieldDayTeam

Some of the kids mention that if Viola Swamp, the  meanest substitute teacher ever, were there, she’d know how to deal with the team.  Not knowing how to contact The Swamp, the principal tries to turn himself into Viola Swamp, but his outfit is just goofy . . . then the “real” Viola Swamp shows up to coach the team.  As usual, she takes no nonsense from anyone.

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NelsonFieldDayCoachSwamp

The Swamp undeniably gets results, however, the principal has started to wonder who Miss Swamp is and how she always knows when to show up.  Unlike in previous books in the series, Miss Nelson is teaching her class as usual while Coach Swamp is out on the field with the team.  Since the previous books pretty well established that Miss Nelson and Miss Swamp are the same person, how is this possible?

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The book is currently available online through Internet Archive.

My Reaction and Spoilers

The story doesn’t contradict the other books, and Miss Nelson is still Viola Swamp, but there is one more surprising thing about Miss Nelson that nobody knows which can allow her to appear to be in two places at once . . .  she has a twin!

NelsonFieldDayVictory

Stories with a secret twin can sometimes feel like a bit of a cop-out, but this one is funny because this is the first and only time Miss Nelson has called on her twin to help her with her double act as Viola Swamp. Miss Nelson’s twin sister is actually the one who’s teaching the class as the nice teacher while Miss Nelson is out on the field coaching as Viola Swamp. There is a moment at the end of the book where the twins are together and Miss Nelson explains to her sister why Viola Swamp is necessary. Sometimes, students need a little tough love and discipline, but by using her alter ego to dish it out when necessary, Miss Nelson gets to keep her reputation as the nice, sweet teacher she really is.

Even though readers know what’s going on with Miss Nelson and Viola Swamp from the previous books, Miss Nelson’s twin adds a nice twist to the plot. The fun of the Miss Nelson books is watching how Miss Nelson carries out her identity swaps. In this book, I also loved the principal’s hilarious attempt to play the part of Viola Swamp in a Halloween witch costume!

Posted on by TracyC

Miss Nelson is Back

NelsonBack

Miss Nelson is Back by Harry Allard and James Marshall, 1982.

Miss Nelson, a teacher, tells her class that she will have to be away for awhile, having her tonsils removed, so someone else will be teaching their class.  At first, the kids think that they’ll be able to get away with a lot while Miss Nelson is away, but an older kid warns them that their substitute will probably turn out to be Viola Swamp, the meanest substitute ever.

NelsonBackWarning

The kids are nervous until they find out that Mr. Blandsworth, the school principal, will be their substitute himself.  The worst thing about Mr. Blandsworth is that he’s boring, and he tends to treat them like they’re little kids.  They put up with it for awhile, but then, they realize that they can get rid of Mr. Blandsworth by convincing him that Miss Nelson has come back to school.

NelsonBackPrincipal

They put together their own Miss Nelson costume, with some of the kids sitting on each other’s shoulder’s to appear taller in the outfit.  It’s cheesy, but it convinces the principal.  But, the kids take it even farther than that.  Now that there’s no substitute teacher, they can do whatever they want!  Their “Miss Nelson” takes the class on an impromptu field trip to the movies and the ice cream parlor, and no one stops them because they’re with their “teacher.”

NelsonBackFieldTrip

Unfortunately, they make the mistake of walking past Miss Nelson’s house, and she discovers what they’ve been doing.

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Miss Nelson arranges for Miss Viola Swamp to come and teach the class a real lesson.

NelsonBackSwamp

The book is currently available online through Internet Archive.

My Reaction

I actually like this book even better than the first book in the series because I think that the kids’ Miss Nelson costume is hilarious! Mr. Blandsworth is completely clueless about the kids’ deception, just as he never figures out what the real truth is about “Viola Swamp.”

As usual for the series, the story never explicitly states that Miss Nelson and Viola Swamp are the same person, but it’s heavily implied in the text (such as Viola Swamp’s scratchy voice from Miss Nelson having her tonsils out) and shown in clues in the pictures. Miss Nelson uses “Viola Swamp” as her alter ego whenever she needs to give her students some tough love, but that’s just a joke that Miss Nelson shares with the readers.