Peck, Richard. (2006). The teacher's funeral. New York: Penguin.


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.

I enjoyed the twist this book provided by having Russell's sister Tansy become the new teacher. I work in a rural school district and many of the students are familiar with having an older sibling be the caretaker for various reasons.  Wish I had read this book when I was teaching older kids though as I think they would have connected to the plot and characters. I work in a second and third grade school library and I think this book is a little above their reading ability and appreciation.