The Teacher's Funeral: A Comedy in Three Parts

Richard Peck's 'The Teacher's Funeral' is a witty and humorous historical fiction novel set in rural Indiana in 1904. It follows 15-year-old Russell Culver, who is thrilled when his strict teacher dies, hoping it means the end of school and a chance to pursue his dreams of working in the Dakotas. His plans are comically derailed when his older sister, Tansy, takes over the one-room schoolhouse. The book is filled with Peck's signature sass, depicting a lively school year complete with stolen supplies, a privy fire, and snakes. It's a delightful read for middle-grade children, exploring themes of growing up, sibling dynamics, and finding one's path, all wrapped in an entertaining comedic package.

If your teacher has to die, August isn't a bad time of year for it," begins Richard Peck's latest novel, a book full of his signature wit and sass. Russell Culver is fifteen in 1904, and he's raring to leave his tiny Indiana farm town for the endless sky of the Dakotas. To him, school has been nothing but a chain holding him back from his dreams. Maybe now that his teacher has passed on, they'll shut the school down entirely and leave him free to roam.No such luck. Russell has a particularly eventful season of schooling ahead of him, led by a teacher he never could have predicted-perhaps the only teacher equipped to control the likes of him: his sister Tansy. Despite stolen supplies, a privy fire, and more than any classroom's share of snakes, Tansy will manage to keep that school alive and maybe, just maybe, set her brother on a new, wiser course.