It Some hilarious and priceless sayings in this book which is a sequel I might have to read the first one mostly from the children of course, but a few good ones from the parents and staff.
Lovely counterpoint with the ongoing love triangle that was Jack andsisters, . .
I think he meant to reveal what happened at the end, but somehow there was room for my doubt maybe I'll need to read the third book, too, if there is one!
Reading this as I'm a consultant/lecturer so teacher fits with one of the challenges.
. . Amazing as always, love it A series read intermittently between books from grittier genres these are something of a guilty pleasure, As the timeline has now moved into thes I am especially enjoying all the flashbacks the political, social and music references invoke.
While a good number of reviewers may rate this novel fromtostars, as a teacher I placed myliking because I can identify with alot of issues in the story.
This is the first of Jack Sheffield's novels I ever read and since the events narrated here took place inandwhen I wasandyears old, a lot of experiences and teaching strategies still occurring
and existing nowadays.
That aside, the story is indeed heart warming as stated in the cover,
. . ' Wry observation and heart warming humour in equal measure ',
The story opens with an extract from the School Log Book, Registration, memorandum and school visits are all part and parcel of running a school,
There is only one thing that I delight in this story and that when Jack finally chooses Berth as his ' missing rib'.
. . ' I took a step forward and held her hand, Then I took a deep breath, ' Berth will you marry me ',
'And in a heartbeat I knew what her answer would be, ' ppThis is the series to read when the world divides itself madly over vaccination and public health in a global pandemic, The series is about a headteacher in a village school in the lates, It is warm, safe and comforting, and full of eccentric British village stereotypes funny things children say references to popular culture, There's a lot of these books in the series, and I'll read them in between books that are a bit meatier, Or when I need to escape from the modern day drama unfolding, Another fantastic book in this series, I love all the characters and the day to day lives of everyone, I love watching people grow and change! But that cliff hanger ending, OH MY GOD! I mourn the forgotten art of proofreading, This book is supposedly set in/, It has lovely nostalgiainducing references to the pop culture of the time, But then, there is this paragraph:
A distant memory of sitting next to Beth Henderson in the Odeon cinema in York, watching Star Wars IV, A New Hope, flickered across my mind.
I recalled that Beth had asked me why the film had begun at episode IV but all I could think about was how lucky I was to be sitting next to such a beautiful woman.
This is so wrong it hurts, I've read some gentle books in my time but none quite so gentle as 'Dear Teacher',
Nothing mindblowing here, but this series is best enjoyed tucked up in bed with a hot chocolate, or get the audiobook amp let it accompany you on a walk through the countryside.
After reading this book, I want to be a teacher living in an idyllic village in Yorkshire!!
It's written in the style of a teacher relating his memoires of being a Head of a village primary school in Yorkshire in.
It's possibly too idyllic, too perfect and maybe a bit twee for some people but hey, it's escapism, and in our modern world of financial crises and political unrest, don't we all need an escapist world to go to
I remember reading the Miss Read books when I was at school, and Jack Sheffield's novels are just like them.
He is, effectively, Mr Read, I was at primary school in the lates, so I appreciated the mentions of the "fads" in pop songs and TV shows that Sheffield puts into his stories.
In fact, I enjoyed "Dear Teacher" so much, I have downloaded some more of his books onto my Kindle, and am looking forward to his newest offering "Educating Jack".
In a nutshell, I loved it! Another good instalment, although the to and fro romance element started to annoy me a little, which the cliffhanger helped to make up for.
I'll keep reading.
This book is twee, Being twee is not necessarily a negative, There is awesome twee UK television has thrived on it for aeons, and of course the printed word either inspired these excellent twee shows, or spun off them.
The book under review is from a subgenre, village twee, Lets think about some classic Brit shows, based on village life, and the iconic characters that are indelibly linked to these timeless series.
Weve had village vet All Creatures Great and Small, village priest Ballykissangel, village plod Heartbeat, Hamish Macbeth, and village doctor Dr Findlays Casebook, Doc Martin.
Well never forget Heartbeats Greengrass, nor BallyKs Assumpta, Werent we shocked when she died Thinking back on her gave me a case of the whatever happened tos so, checking on Wikipedia, Dervla Kirwan is still around and in work, currently starring in Blackout on SBS.
It seemed back when BallyK was on air that, like the priest, every red blooded nonbogan Aussie male, including this one, had the hots for Assunmpta.
Of course, a shows tweeness is ratcheted up if a very cute doggie appears cite Hamishs Scottie, and we should ponder where would Sunday nights on the ABC be without the twee genre
To the best of my knowledge no English show of classic village twee has centred around a teacher.
Jack Sheffield obviously felt there was an opening in the market and in he strode, pen in hand,
Id vaguely heard of his series of tomes focused on the principal of a small north of England hamlet school, so when one came up cheap on eBay, I went for it.
Now there is twee and then there is twee, and this book more than borders on the latter, I thought that it would appeal to me more than it did being as Jack, the main character, and I were similar vocationally but its bad tweeness made it a struggle.
The only reason I persevered was to discover which of the two deliciously delectable sisters, Beth or Laura, our hero would end up with.
Reaching the end, had I not been a mile high above Bass Strait, I would have chucked the book across a room in disgust.
Of course it ended in a cliffhanger, didnt it, for our author had a sequel Village Teacher to sell, didnt he I wont be hunting it down.
Oh deary me, in the novel the Yorkshire stereotypes were out in full force, mangling the language to the point of utter exhaustion as Sheffield ramped up his charm assault.
Likewise, the expected student howlers were so predictable and forced it drove me to distraction but I gritted my teeth and plodded on.
And what a puddin Jack was totally gormless when it came to his two lovelies, Made you feel why would they bother, unless he was exceptional in areas the book didnt go into,
Of course Australia has not been without its own example of village twee, the standout being, without doubt, the glorious Sea Change.
In this we had David Wenhams Diver Dan and William McInnes Max Conners, as love interests for Sigrid Thorntons Laura, and gormless men they werent.
They were manly men to induce lust, but of course with a sensitive side that needed mothering as well, Half the thinking female population of Oz fell in love with Diver, the other half Max, Some of them even took off from city life to find their own Pearl Bay manly man, along the East Coast, while such places still existed, and thus created a social phenomenon such is the potential power of village twee.
Done well, good village twee is priceless, but this hackneyed effort, with its constant cultural referencing, just gave this reader the irrits.
And as for village twee made in heaven, how about we get Diver Dan and Assumpta together Now wouldnt that be something!
Usual day to day life of a headmaster in a Yorkshire school.
Not very interesting after the first book, but some funny moments, Just started reading this book and it is getting better and better the more I read it! Very funny book about a primary school in a rural village as told by the headteacher! This could be based on your typical primary school where ever you live! Very funny! I can identify with each of the characters as there are each of these at every school!
Finished this book in record breaking time! Makes you want to read other books in the series! Writer Jack Sheffield used to be a real teacher and his books are based on the schools he taught at!
Great read! Bought for my friend for Christmas! Just like the last one, another nostalgic look back atwhere Jack Sheffield is a teacher at the fictional Ragley Village school, although the book is based on his real experiences and stories as a teacher in a similar place in Yorkshire.
Again some funny references that are added to because we are looking back knowing what happened next some particularly funny references to Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles and the fact he is heart broken because she has just got married.
Well worth a read I think we all know people who resemble some of the characters, Jack has to choose between two sisters in this one so there is some romance with a proposal at the end of the book but to whom It's: Dallas is enthralling the nation on TV, Mrs Thatcher has just become prime minister, Abba is top of the pops, and in the small Yorkshire village of RagleyontheForest,Jack Sheffield returns for his third year as headmaster of the village school.
Jack and his staff struggle to keep a semblance of normality throughout the turbulence of the school terms, as once again the official School Log fails to record what is really going on beneath the seemingly quiet routine.
Ruby the caretaker discovers her Prince Charming Vera the school secretary gets to meet her hero, Nicholas Parsons and Jack, to his astonishment, finds himself having to stand in as a curiously skinny Father Christmas.
Jack also finds himself, at last, having to choose between the vivacious sisters Beth and Laura Henderson, . . I read his first book and loved it! This book was just as good but I got confused at how it was his diary but he knew what was going on in other peoples houses when he wasn't there.
Still a good read though Rather enjoyable, Sheffield improves as both author and narrator with this second venture in the Teacher series, Supporting characters step to the fore, and there is some real intrigue in the romance department, which ends on a relationship cliff hanger.
More important, the community is more developed: members, parents, and students, Jack is less front and center, the people around him really begin to flesh out, I will continue reading the series, I actually started this quite a few years ago and somehow it got abandoned, As part of the Dusty Bookshelf project Im trying to tackle my TBR pile and this book was the first I ever added back in.
This was a quick book as I expected, I just didnt love it and feel the heartwarming feel I expected to.
I get the impression that Mr Sheffield is a truly nice man unfortunately the other characters didnt seem to shine through in this book.
I did enjoy the Will they/wont they romance throughout the book though it was that that made me continue,
Im wondering if maybe the book has aged or maybe I have and I just want more from the humour, I felt some of the linguistic comedy moments were a little forced and unnatural,
Im sure its me and not the book! Very entertaining, Lovely characters. Another instalment from Jack Sheffield, with familiar characters and the 'cosy' welcoming village atmosphere, I do like the sense of community in these books, though they are very light and rarely touch on any big issues, This does not mean that they are not enjoyable they're almost like a soap opera set in and around a school in thes.
More familiar historical references took me back to my childhood, though I did notice a couple of writing 'errors' that niggled slightly.
Other people have mentioned this with the previous books but I've overlooked it so far however, the line 'I didn't notice the look that passed between character X and Y' just doesn't make sense! If you didn't notice it you couldn't comment, surely
Still ending on a bit of cliffhanger well, gentledescentdownagrassyhillhanger actually and I'm very keen to read the next instalment.
A bit of research reveals that these books are not as Autobiographical as I had first thought, which for some reason I find slightly disappointing though does explain some of the more obviously humorous anecdotes that seem unlikely to have happened in reality.
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