Meet Ella: New Teacher by Rebecca McRitchie

Title: Meet Ella: New Teacher

Author: Rebecca McRitchie

Genre: Contemporary

Publisher: Scholastic Australia

Published: 1^st July 2021

Format: Paperback

Pages: 48

Price: $7.99

Synopsis: §  A new series from the world of the bestselling Ella and Olivia and Ella Diaries

• §  Meet Ella in her first years at school
• §  Simple vocabulary and large, easy-to-read font

ideal for very new readers

• §  Full of humour, heart and playful illustrations
• §  Relatable themes of family, friendship and being a

little person in a big world

• §  Ella and Olivia has over ONE MILLION copies in print!

Miss King has gone on holiday.
And Ella’s new teacher just isn’t the same. She doesn’t smile or say good morning. And she calls Ella ‘Bella’!

~*~

The second in the Meet Ella series, New Teacher moves from the park and the family home into school, where we meet Ella’s friend Zoe and see her interact with her teacher, Miss King. But Ella’s familiar world is shaken when her teacher goes on holiday and is replaced by Mrs Shoe for a few days. Mrs King doesn’t say good morning and calls Ella – Bella – what is Ella to do?

Moving into the wider world of school, Ella begins to grow and explore the world with her friends and begins to show us what her interests are – reading and ballet. Ella’s uncertainty of this new teacher is something familiar that we all feel at all ages – the unease with new people. Little kids might feel this more, as Ella does when she encounters her new teacher – even though it is a temporary feeling. This book deals with the issue sensitively, and gives kids a space to explore these feelings, and what they like and don’t like – as Ella does with her love of reading and uncertainty of what the new teacher is telling them to do.

Like the first book, the simple yet fun story for early readers will engage readers and help them build on their vocabulary and phonics and understanding of language and literacy.  These books are exciting and fun, and will definitely appeal to readers of all ages, because it will allow early readers to explore language, and allow reluctant readers to enjoy a world that will engage them and help them on their reading journey.

This is a fun book and addition to the series, and I loved this book as much as the first. It will again help to build on literacy and understanding of story, and engage younger readers in a vibrant world that explores little kids in a big world.