A Couple of April Fools

Fantasy

A Couple of April Fools by Gregory Maguire Clarion Books, 2004, 182 pp., $16.00 ISBN: 0-618-27474-X

The children in Miss Earth's class are not having a good spring. What with mutant chickens, an escalating rivalry between the Tattletales and the Copycats (their girls' and boys' clubs), a traitor, and a couple of April Fools pranks gone wrong, they hardly notice the fine spring air or the first forsythia blooms. Their problems reach a crisis point when their beloved teacher disappears. Though Thekla Mustard, former Empress of the Tattletales, suspects a romance gone wrong between Miss Earth and her fiance, Mayor Grass, her classmates are not so sure. However, they all agree, they must use their excellent education to locate their teacher.

In this, book six of the chronicles of Hamlet, Vermont, Maguire uses humor and a fastpaced plot to create a delightfully entertaining story. Despite the quirky names and bizarre events, Maguire's tale captures the essence of pre-adolescent experience: the difficulties of peer relationships and the growing understanding that parents are flawed human beings.

Virginia Beesley

Quinter, KS

Copyright Assembly on Literature for Adolescents -- National Council of Teachers of English Winter 2005
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