Rent The Teacher's Funeral

Synopsis

When 15-year-old Russell Culver's mean old teacher drops dead shortly before school starts in August of 1904, he thinks it could be an opportunity for him to leave his Indiana farm and ride the rails out west for rollicking adventure. But, much to his horrified dismay, his own iron-willed big sister Tansy becomes the new teacher. The boys' privy in the school catches fire, a puff adder appears in Tansy's desk, the stove blows up, and Aunt Fanny winds up stuck in a ditch, but life at Hominy Ridge School keeps going, with a continuous stream of shocking new inventions like the telephone, the horseless carriage, and the Edison Victrola changing everyone's lives forever. Peck masterfully evokes gentle rural life at the turn of the century and creates a memorable cast of characters, including classmates Flopears (a dullard) and Little Britches, a painfully shy girl. Peck weaves plenty of humor into this comical tale of a boy maturing in a time of unprecedented changes. A Kirkus Editor's Choice for 2004.

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