The Gym Teacher from the Black Lagoon

This selection from the 20-year-old Black Lagoon series offers a fully animated version of the 1994 book written by Mike Thaler and illustrated by Jared Lee, with Joey Stack as the boy narrator who relates the many scary things he's heard about the new gym teacher. Word is that this yet unseen figure never talks, but just blows his whistle; he's hairy and his knuckles touch the floor; he demands headstands, nose stands, and music stands; and if you don't climb the rope fast enough, he sets fire to the end of it! The speculations grow wilder and wilder until—you guessed it—a perfectly respectable and nice guy appears. Oddly, there are no girls in the story—indeed, the most horrible thing the new gym teacher is said to do is to make the boys square-dance with girls—but the lads with their googly eyes, red gym shorts, and vivid imaginations seem as aptly characterized today as when they first appeared nearly a decade ago. Featuring a read-along option, DVD extras include separate interviews with Thaler and Lee discussing their longtime collaboration. Recommended. Aud: E, P. (G.A. DeCandido)