When Miss Breakbone confiscates Junkyard's crucial find, Wheels, Pencil, Spider, and the rest of the Dunderheads plot to teach her a lesson. ( )

The Dunderheads by Phil Fleischman

Parents need to know that this is not a book for younger kids. Most older kids will love the humor. However, the message is complicated (the teacher is evil, and the students work together to end her tyranny), and the cartoons are a bit scary (the classroom has an electric chair; there are ferocious dogs, etc.) The book is best for kids who have some experience with school and understand that this isn't a realistic portrayal of teachers and school. ( )

Recommended Ages: Gr.

Plot Summary: Miss Breakbone is a teacher who HATES kids. She makes 4 big mistakes right in a row: she insults the class and calls them Dunderheads. She doesn't recognize that the kids are talented. She becomes outraged at Junkyard. And she dares Junkyard to get his magnifying glass and one-eared cat back, even though they are locked in a drawer in her desk. Junkyard knows he can get them back with a little help from his friends. Wheels draws a map to Breakbone's house. Pencil draws the outside of it so that Junkyard knows how to break in. Wheels brings Junkyard, Spider, Hollywood, Spitball, Clips, Google-Eyes, and Nails to Breakbone's house. She's having a party? Can they break in and steal their stuff back? What will happen if they get caught?

Setting: school, town where kids can ride their bike but need a map to find their teacher's house, big houses

Characters:
Miss Breakbone - teacher, read Guard Dogs Monthly,
Theodore - AKA Junkyard, always digging stuff out of trash cans, mother loves cats and wants to give the cat to his mom for her birthday
Wheels - bicycle nut, can keep up with Breakbone's car
Pencil - can draw something after only seeing it once, draws Breakbones house
Spider - loves to climb
Hollywood - loves movies
Spitball - tough kid
Clips - not very smart but makes really good paper clip chains
Google-Eyes - studied hypnotism from a library book, hypnotizes the guard dogs
Nails - boy who "spends a lot of time on his fingernails, filing them into different shapes"

Recurring Themes: theft, crime, fairness

Controversial Issues: Ocean's Eleven for young kids, no consequences for breaking and entering, Junkyard is rewarded for stealing the cat back

Personal Thoughts: I'm not sure how I feel about this book. If the audience is young kids (looks more like a picture book with few sentences on every page) and young kids are impressionable then this book is not for them because the kids do not face consequences for their actions and it makes it exciting to break in to a teacher's house and steal. It even makes it justified because the teacher isn't being fair. On the other hand, I think this book would make for a very lively class discussion.

Genre: modern tall tale (exaggerated realistic story)

Pacing: fast, large font, quick explanations
Characters: only known for one thing, except for junkyard
Frame:
Storyline:

Activity: Discuss moral issues. Make inferences into characters backgrounds. ( )

In my opinion, this was a really good book. I really liked the watercolor illustrations by David Roberts. They were very detailed and I thought they fit the written text appropriately. I also liked how the character’s emotions were conveyed through the illustrations throughout the book. The teacher, Miss Breakbone (who reminded me a lot of the Trunchbull from Matilda), always had a thick line for eyebrows, very rosy cheeks, grinning eyes, a nose as sharp as a needle, and an evil grin. On the very first page, Miss Breakbone takes up both pages and is accompanied by text that grows in size by each line. By having the teacher take up both pages, the illustration helps to convey how overpowering and downright mean she is. I also really enjoyed the variety of descriptive language used to describe the children’s various eccentricities. The illustrations also supported the vivid character descriptions. One of the children was referred to as Nails, because “he spends a lot of time on his fingernails, filing them into different shapes—saw blade, screwdrivers, letter opener, and keys.” I thought the accompanying illustrations were really helpful to imagine someone’s fingernails as different tools. The Dunderheads worked together and showed what they could accomplish using their variety of skills. This was a don’t-get-mad, get-even story and I thought the creativity used throughout the book was great. The main message of this story conveys the importance of teamwork and that obstacles can be over come. ( )

I enjoyed "The Dunderheads" by Paul Fleischman and Illustrator David Roberts. I liked the watercolor illustrations they reminded me of pen drawings you'd expect of children the same age as the Dunderheads. They emphasized the author's extreme descriptions of the student's eccentricities like Wheels' bike equipped with water fountain and Hollywood's massive movie collection. I also enjoyed the fact that the story and illustrations created a "Mission Impossible" like feel to the book as each of the Dunderheads uses their specific skills to overcome the obstacles they encounter like Ms. Breakbone's dogs and security system. The main idea of this book seems to be working together to overcome obstacles that can not be conquered on our own. ( )