The Teacher's Funeral: A Comedy in Three Parts

Plot Summary

The Teacher's Funeral: A Comedy in Three Parts by Richard Peck is a story about fifteen-year-old Russell who lives in rural Indiana in 1904. He dreams of quitting school and joining a wheat threshing crew. Instead his dreams are put on hold when his teacher passes away and his older sister Tansy takes over the teaching at his one-room schoolhouse. Russell and his schoolmates try their best to ruin the school. With his sister in charge, Russell realizes that he can't get away with anything.

I thought this book was great! It has great writing, characterization, and pacing. Peck definitely knows how to tell a story. This would be a great book for a read aloud in a library setting. It is also a great book to compare and contrast the past with the present. This books describes many of the early 1900's inventions.

Reviews
" Following the tradition of Mark Twain, Peck gently pokes fun at social manners and captures local color while providing first-rate entertainment. Ages 10-up." -Publishers Weekly

" The best thing about Richard Peck's funny stories is the way he lets his characters slowly come to realize something about a person in their lives, and learn something about themselves as a result. With such delightful characters keeping him company. Peck surely must have enjoyed writing The Teacher's Funeral." -Charlotte Observer