Illustrated by David RobertsJune, 2009
Rating: 2 (darn!)
Endpapers: illustration of the Dunderheads tacked up onto a blue wall
Big-bosomed Miss Breakbone is a a tyrannical teacher who despises her students -- who she calls "fiddling, twiddling, time-squandering, mind-wandering, doodling, dozing, don't-knowing, dunderheads!" She gives herself a gold star whenever she makes a student cry and confiscates all their stuff to sell.
Then one day the class has had it and decide to retaliate. Using the special, odd skills each of the dozen-or-so Dunderheads individually hold, they create a plan to break into her fortress-like house to get back their stuff.
Told in the first person by one of the Dunderheads, the kid's personalities are well portrayed, and once I (as a teacher and proud of it) got over the hugely negative attributes of Miss Breakbone, I decided she was a hoot.
Now, Paul Fleischman is my favorite author. I actually preordered this book. I'm sure the illustrations are wonderful, but the whole package just didn't work for me. I'm really disappointed - I don't know if it's in myself, the artwork, the story, or the negative portrayal of teachers in general, which is a hugely pet peeve of mine. I'll reread this in a week or two. See how I feel then. (sigh....)
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