- Paperback: 352 pages
- Publisher: Bantam Press; 1st ed edition (29 Jan 2009)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0593061500
- ISBN-13: 978-0593061503
- Product Dimensions: 21.4 x 13.4 x 2.8 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (44 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 313,215 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
Dear Teacher
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More About the Author
Product Description
Book Description
A return to Ragley-on-the-Forest village school for another year of tears and laughter
Product Description
It’s 1979: 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 Ragley-on-the-Forest,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
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
22 of 23 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
A cracking book for all. The author has a honed skill in relating to adults and children alike, whatever their background.
Like its two predecessors `Dear Teacher' revolves around life at Ragley village school, its teachers, children, parents and local life but this book boasts more. We still have the daily anecdotes but stories are deeper and events are more colourful.
How lovely it is to be reminded of the importance of values particularly by children: "Our mummy says we're like different-coloured crayons..." said Rowena..."But we all live in the same tin," replied her twin sister Katrina.
This book will be your best friend. You will not want it to end as you read about the funny Pontefract strippers, the "cutest lil' city" of York , Mrs Earnshaw's baby daughter called Dallas (!)... going to "Devon" when you die and so very much more.
A walk down 1980s memory lane is not to be missed as we remember those flares in fashion and nostalgic notes from Abba not to mention the reign of Margaret Thatcher.
Best of all is our dear young Headmaster, Jack Sheffield. We all want a Jack in our lives. If you don't already have one you will be looking for one after reading this book. We experience the pangs of love he has for the lovely Beth and reflect on his words ...'while time might be a great healer, love was better'
This is an excellent read. If you have been a pupil, parent or teacher at some point in your life this will be your reference book on life. This book is so good that I found myself wanting to re-live my life amongst the descriptions and tales of life in Ragley.
Like its two predecessors `Dear Teacher' revolves around life at Ragley village school, its teachers, children, parents and local life but this book boasts more. We still have the daily anecdotes but stories are deeper and events are more colourful.
How lovely it is to be reminded of the importance of values particularly by children: "Our mummy says we're like different-coloured crayons..." said Rowena..."But we all live in the same tin," replied her twin sister Katrina.
This book will be your best friend. You will not want it to end as you read about the funny Pontefract strippers, the "cutest lil' city" of York , Mrs Earnshaw's baby daughter called Dallas (!)... going to "Devon" when you die and so very much more.
A walk down 1980s memory lane is not to be missed as we remember those flares in fashion and nostalgic notes from Abba not to mention the reign of Margaret Thatcher.
Best of all is our dear young Headmaster, Jack Sheffield. We all want a Jack in our lives. If you don't already have one you will be looking for one after reading this book. We experience the pangs of love he has for the lovely Beth and reflect on his words ...'while time might be a great healer, love was better'
This is an excellent read. If you have been a pupil, parent or teacher at some point in your life this will be your reference book on life. This book is so good that I found myself wanting to re-live my life amongst the descriptions and tales of life in Ragley.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I am enjoying this series more and more, especially as the characters are `bedding down' nicely. They are feeling like old friends and that is the skill of Jack Sheffield's writing. A community that is instantly recognisable.
Timothy Pratt still brings a smile to my face everytime he appears, and Sheila, the landlady in the main attraction in the tap room of the `Royal Oak' is spot-on. Jack Sheffield manages to find the humour and pathos in everyday life, and delivers it in a charming way.
And I have finely worked out what the `Rhubarb Triangle' is. I should have asked Timothy Pratt - he could have told me straight away.
Top marks!
Timothy Pratt still brings a smile to my face everytime he appears, and Sheila, the landlady in the main attraction in the tap room of the `Royal Oak' is spot-on. Jack Sheffield manages to find the humour and pathos in everyday life, and delivers it in a charming way.
And I have finely worked out what the `Rhubarb Triangle' is. I should have asked Timothy Pratt - he could have told me straight away.
Top marks!
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Where to start with Jack Sheffield's third book about life as Head teacher at the local school in Ragley-on-the-Forest. We pick up another year at the school as the seventies turn into the eighties and see the changes that come with it, within the education system, the local village and nationally.
The undercurrent of the story for me is the relationship between Jack and the two Henderson sisters, Laura and Beth. Reading as we do, we see him flounder with his friendship with Laura, who has misinterpreted everything, whilst as a reader we know that he only has feelings and eyes for Beth, a fellow Head teacher, and at times you want to scream `just get the courage Jack' to put your love life in order.
It is an easy read, and has taken less than two days to read but I did not think it was as funny as the last book. The book needs to be read now; there are so many references to life in 1979/1980 that are actually a dig at the way life is like now. The excitement of personal stereos so only you can listen to the music without inflicting it on everyone else, comes in a generation now plugged into iPods. Abiding by union rules not to administer medicines in school, shows us that no one can help now, in fear of being held accountable if little Terry Earnshaw's cough medicine falls into the wrong hands or if Terry is given too much. Getting a television in the local pub, The Royal Oak is going to cause the local football team's post match team talks too much of an "extraction". No doubt they would be watching the football on it and talking about how successful Chelsea is (in division two then). Do not think in the times of the credit crunch that finances do not get mentioned by Jack Sheffield, they do. Talk of mortgages rising to above 15 per cent and that no one will be able to afford to buy a house if properties go over twenty thousand pounds. Prescription charges were due to rise to a ridiculous 70 pence and television license detector vans that are going to catch those who did have a licence and the licence had gone up to a staggering £34. Read the book and translate it into what is happening in the here and now. A clever idea, but I am not sure if it would hold up in twenty years time when life will have changed again quite radically and all these digs at the way life is now will be lost on the reader.
This book can be read as a social history of the late seventies early eighties with a smattering of just how wonderfully funny children can be with such innocence. If you want to know how events at these times effected every day folk, and how topics of conversation in the pub, the local shop and in the work place centred around who shot JR, and whether the notorious milk snatcher can deal with the miners and insuring a cow for ten thousand pounds than you cannot go far wrong with this book. This is a book about life but as a reader you know exactly what happens, in these events, and I am not sure if that spoils or enhances this book.
The undercurrent of the story for me is the relationship between Jack and the two Henderson sisters, Laura and Beth. Reading as we do, we see him flounder with his friendship with Laura, who has misinterpreted everything, whilst as a reader we know that he only has feelings and eyes for Beth, a fellow Head teacher, and at times you want to scream `just get the courage Jack' to put your love life in order.
It is an easy read, and has taken less than two days to read but I did not think it was as funny as the last book. The book needs to be read now; there are so many references to life in 1979/1980 that are actually a dig at the way life is like now. The excitement of personal stereos so only you can listen to the music without inflicting it on everyone else, comes in a generation now plugged into iPods. Abiding by union rules not to administer medicines in school, shows us that no one can help now, in fear of being held accountable if little Terry Earnshaw's cough medicine falls into the wrong hands or if Terry is given too much. Getting a television in the local pub, The Royal Oak is going to cause the local football team's post match team talks too much of an "extraction". No doubt they would be watching the football on it and talking about how successful Chelsea is (in division two then). Do not think in the times of the credit crunch that finances do not get mentioned by Jack Sheffield, they do. Talk of mortgages rising to above 15 per cent and that no one will be able to afford to buy a house if properties go over twenty thousand pounds. Prescription charges were due to rise to a ridiculous 70 pence and television license detector vans that are going to catch those who did have a licence and the licence had gone up to a staggering £34. Read the book and translate it into what is happening in the here and now. A clever idea, but I am not sure if it would hold up in twenty years time when life will have changed again quite radically and all these digs at the way life is now will be lost on the reader.
This book can be read as a social history of the late seventies early eighties with a smattering of just how wonderfully funny children can be with such innocence. If you want to know how events at these times effected every day folk, and how topics of conversation in the pub, the local shop and in the work place centred around who shot JR, and whether the notorious milk snatcher can deal with the miners and insuring a cow for ten thousand pounds than you cannot go far wrong with this book. This is a book about life but as a reader you know exactly what happens, in these events, and I am not sure if that spoils or enhances this book.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Dear teacher
Jack Sheffield is an excellent author, very down to earth, the type of person you enjoy listen too, or at least read his books and the time as a teacher in Yorkshire. Read more
Published 1 month ago by crazylady
Dear Teacher - even better!
Another great instalment in the Ragley school story. The characters now seem like friends and the love triangle between Jack, Beth and Laura is keeping me gripped. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Carol Clifford
Dear Teacher
Another good read from Jack Sheffield, his life as a teacher, head master. Very funny and the way he treated the pupils was just lovely. A good read as are all his books.
Published 2 months ago by A.Hurrell
Jack Sheffield does it again.
Oh boy. Its like a comfort blanket, when I read one of Jacks books. So true to the time of writing. Its like an amalgam of all creatures great and small, please sir and forever... Read more
Published 3 months ago by the schemer
School Saga
This is Jack Sheffield's third book in a series recounting a headteacher's entertaining and enjoyable episodes set around a junior school in an unspoilt rural village, and though... Read more
Published 4 months ago by D. Elliott
Dear Teacher by Jack Sheffield
Dear Teacher A very easy entertaining and humorous holiday read, containing sixties memories, light hearted school staff politics and plenty of amusing anecdotes about children. Read more
Published 9 months ago by Mrs Briggs
Dear Teacher
I am enjoying this series more and more. Best of all the love life of the dear young headmaster Jack Sheffield. Read more
Published 14 months ago by Terrie
ANOTHER BRILLIANT BOOK BY JACK SHEFFIELD
THIS IS ANOTHER BRILLIANT BOOK BY JACK SHEFFIELD, ITS SO WELL WRITTEN, I FIND MYSLEF LAUGHING OUT LOUD AT THE GOINGS ON IN THE SCHOOL AND OUTSIDE OF THE SCHOOL, THE CHARACTERS ARE... Read more
Published 15 months ago by C. A. Brailsford
Keep 'em coming Jack!
I have just finished Dear Teacher having, like quite a few others, stumbled on Jack Sheffield's books by accident. Read more
Published 18 months ago by L. Pritchard
Doesn't disappoint
I love these books, they are so comforting. They tell a beautiful tale of life 30 years ago and Jack Sheffield seems to have that special quality that brings the characters to... Read more
Published 18 months ago by S.Bartlett
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