Genre
Children
Setting and Context
Miss Nelson's Room 207
Narrator and Point of View
Miss Nelson is Missing is told from a third-person perspective, through the book's various illustrations.
Tone and Mood
The book is whimsical, lighthearted, chaotic, serious, and intense.
Protagonist and Antagonist
Miss Nelson's class is the book's protagonist; Mrs. Swamp is its antagonist.
Major Conflict
Miss Nelson's class contending with Mrs. Swamp nastiness, while longing for Miss Nelson to come back from her extended absence, is the central conflict of the book. Throughout the book, Mrs. Swamp puts roadblocks up which prevent the class from fully investing themselves in their learning.
Climax
After the students have grown tired of Mrs. Swamp, they decide to organize a search for Miss Nelson, whom they miss dearly. This is the climax of the book.
Foreshadowing
Mrs. Swamp's appearance and her obnoxious demeanor foreshadow her eventual reveal as Miss Nelson.
Understatement
Miss Nelson's intelligence is understated throughout the book. The skill, intelligence, and cunning it took to transform herself into Mrs. Swamp illuminates her profound intelligence.
Allusions
The book makes allusions to literary archetypes, like an evil woman who comes in and ruins the main character's lives.
Imagery
Throughout the book, there is whimsical and fun imagery (like flying paper airplanes and spitballs) that underscores that chaotic nature of the class.
Paradox
Miss Nelson's disappearance is what makes the students appreciate her presence.
Parallelism
N/A
Metonymy and Synecdoche
N/A
Personification
The spitballs and paper planes the class makes are personified throughout the book, to underscore the kids' deviousness.
