Author: Paul Fleischman
Illustrator: David Roberts
© Date: 2009
Publisher: Candlewick Press
Pages: 56
Chapters: No
Illustrations: Yes, every page
Publisher Recommended Age: 6-9 years
Bonus Activities at End of Book: No
Summary from Book: Meet the Dunderheads.
there’s Wheels, owner of the wildest bike you’ve ever seen. And Hollywood, a movie aficionada. And then there’s Nails, who’s got a fingernail for all occasions. And Spider, who can climb like a, well, you know.
Now meet Miss Breakbone.
She hates kids, especially kids like the Dunderheads, who don’t look like they amount to much. But when Miss Breakbone crosses the line one too many times, this motley crew of misfits decides to teach her a lesson she won’t soon forget: never underestimate a Dunderhead!
Newbery Medal winner Paul Fleischman creates a winning cast of underdogs—and one of the most terrifying teachers you’ll ever meet—brought to vivid and quirky life by illustrator David Roberts.
Page Pig Thoughts: Miss Breakbone the teacher prides herself on making children cry and confiscating all sorts of items. And yes, she sells the items that she confiscates and keeps the money. When she steals an item that one child found in a dumpster (yes, he has a hobby of digging through trash) and was planning to give to his mother for her birthday, the rest of the kids in class go into action to help their classmate. I particularly enjoyed celebrating the unique skills that each child in this story has. Each skill was used to reach a goal of getting back an item for a classmate that had it confiscated by the teacher for no good reason. Overall, I didn’t find myself getting attached to the characters or story, but it was an okay read that might really resonate with a unique child.
Page Pup found this one okay, but had a rather insightful point. Maybe because David Roberts illustrated this one, we kind of expected something more like Andrea Beaty’s “Rosie Revere.” So maybe when this one was not like that, we were left a little disappointed.