I Rule Dogsbottom School

Review also includes:

Dogsbottom School Goes Totally Mental, 9780192753946

These zany romps are a ‘must read’ for top juniors. In the first of the series (further titles are planned), Bernie Lee finds herself the only pupil in her new village school, surrounded by a cast of idiosyncratic teachers and an even more bizarre headteacher, Mrs Whiffy. As the school’s only pupil, Bernie is the water monitor, pencil monitor, paper monitor, football team and captain. The school miraculously survives its inspection; the head creates a viable class by placing all the teachers in detention. Mrs Whiffy’s attempt to blow up the school is foiled by Bernie and, by some strange twist, the school once again becomes popular with local parents.

In the second book, as the title suggests, Mrs Whiffy and Bernie enter into a conspiracy to make sure the children misbehave so that the school can be eligible for the Problem Pupil Grant. How Bernie provokes her fellow pupils into strange deeds is an excuse for the author to indulge his invention, wit and keen eye for classroom pranks. There is no moral to these books and there doesn’t need to be. Blake offers a quirky and anarchic view of school life, always affectionately supportive of both children and adults. The ten-year-olds who shared these books with me laughed out loud.