This is Jack Sheffield’s second novel after,‘Teacher, Teacher!’, revolving around the head-teacher of a village school in Yorkshire. There are lots of great characters and stories along the way in this gentle, humorous, touching series. It will give you a warm glow inside as you share the highs and lows of the villagers who feel like old friends by the end of the book.
It's 1978, and Jack Sheffield is beginning his second year as headmaster of a small village school in North Yorkshire. There are three letters on his desk - one makes him smile, one makes him sad and one is destined to change his life forever. This is from nine-year-old Sebastian, suffering from leukaemia in the local hospital, who writes a heartbreaking letter addressed to 'Mister Teacher'. So begins a journey through the seasons of Yorkshire life in which the school is the natural centre of the community.
Vera, the school secretary who worships Margaret Thatcher; Ruby, the twenty-stone caretaker who sings like Julie Andrews; Dorothy, the coffee shop assistant who is desperate to be Wonder Woman; all these, and many more colourful characters, accompany Jack through the ups and downs of the school year. Most of all, there is the lovely Beth Henderson, a teacher from a nearby school, who with her sister Laura presents Jack with an unexpected dilemma.
‘Take a dash of Heartbeat, add a sprinkling of All Creatures Great And Small…and you have Mister Teacher.It will have you crying tears of laughter and sadness. A joy to read’ Glasgow Evening Times
‘A charming memoir’ Daily Express
Author
About Jack Sheffield
Jack Sheffield was born in 1945 and grew up in the tough environment of Gipton Estate, in North East Leeds. After a job as a 'pitch boy', repairing roofs, he became a Corona Pop Man before going to St John's College, York, and training to be a teacher. In the late 70s and 80s, he was a headteacher of two schools in North Yorkshire before becoming Senior Lecturer in primary education at Bretton Hall near Wakefield. It was at this time he began to record his many amusing stories of village life. He lives in York and Hampshire.
