Skip to main content

The Dunderheads




The Dunderheads
by Paul Fleischman
ill. by David Roberts
juvenile fiction
56 pages
Somerville, Mass. : Candlewick Press, 2009

Miss Breakbone is a terrible teacher. She spends all her time yelling and insulting her pupils. She also confiscates all their possessions from them. The students just sit in silent suffering until one day Miss B goes too far. She takes something from Junkyard that he had planned to give his mother for her birthday. The class brain, Einstein, springs into action. He devises a plan that involves the whole class and each of their special interests and talents. The goal is to reclaim their stuff and show Miss Breakbone that she's not the boss. Humorous and a quick read. I loved the message that all the kids might look different and have different hobbies, but they can get along and even work together to solve a problem.

Comments

lw said…
I really liked the Dunderheads, too, but I couldn't figure out the little kid with what looked like a blue beard was wearing or was meant to represent. Any ideas?

Popular posts from this blog

Dude, That's Rude! (Get Some Manners) by Pamela Espeland & Elizabeth Verdick

If there's one book today's kids need to read, it is Dude, That's Rude! (Get Some Manners) . The authors provide a fun format for teaching etiquette to children. They discuss proper behavior at home, at school, at other people's homes and in public places. The information is completely up-to-date with cellphone manners and netiquette included. Fun, cartoony illustrations are on practically every page giving the book great visual appeal. This book is perfect for boys and girls in the fourth grade or older. WARNING: Bodily functions are discussed.

Faces of the Moon by Bob Crelin

Faces of the Moon by Bob Crelin Illustrated by Leslie Evans Charlesburg; 2009; unpaged Faces of the Moon is a short nonfiction book that describes the different phases of the moon and why the moon appears like it does on certain nights. This book is short and sweet so even the youngest of moon lovers will enjoy it. The layout is simplistic and easy to follow. I don’t know much about the moon so I found it very interesting.

Review: The Factory

The Factory By Catherine Egan New York, NY : Scholastic Inc., 2025. Fiction. 306 pages.  Thirteen-year-old Asher Doyle has been invited to join the Factory, a secretive research facility in the desert which ostensibly extracts renewable energy from the electromagnetic fields of its young recruits. But Asher soon realizes something sinister is going on. Kids are getting sick. The adults who run the Factory seem to be keeping secrets. And the extraction process is not only painful and exhausting, but existentially troubling. Asher makes a handful of new friends who help him with an investigation that turns into a resistance, which turns into...a cliffhanger! The Factory is a page-turning sci-fi with multidimensional characters, an intriguing plot, and refreshingly straight-forward writing. Egan weaves in detail about climate crises and social unrest, making the story's dystopian setting feel rich and plausible. With its sophisticated themes and accessible storytelling, I would recomm...