The Dunderheads

Miss Breakbone calls the children in her class ‘Dunderheads’. That is her first mistake. She is a truly vile teacher, a brilliantly crafted extreme reminiscent of Gerald Scarfe’s worst. She then confiscates something truly precious and dares the class to think of getting it back. Another mistake. The skills of the various Dunderheads gathered together result in a well planned and executed retrieval of the confiscated property from under Miss Breakbone’s nose.

This longer picture book story with its laconic first person narration and dynamic action-packed illustrations will find a home on the book shelves of junior readers. It’s great to see a truly awful teacher as a villain and a resourceful bunch of kids getting one over her. The action in the story is broken into steps that resemble sequences in classic caper films. And the way the team tackle the security camera – it’s worth reading for this alone.