Book Review: Village School

Reviewed By: Harriet Klausner

Village School     Amazon US TPB Amazon Canada TPB
Miss Read
Class/Genre:   Romance
Houghton Mifflin, $12.00, 238 pp.

Five years have passed since Miss Read became the schoolmistress of the English village, Fairacre. A new school term is to begin and Miss Read looks forward to it with wonder, some trepidation, but mostly hopes for her pupils including three new students. Miss Read knows that she must help the somewhat frightened newcomers fit into the class as smoothly as possible.

The school year brings its usual learning, fun, and skinned knees needing special tender care. Along with Miss Reed, the dedicated but somewhat old-fashioned yet quite popular "uncertificated Teacher" Miss Clare is back and the gloom and doom custodian Mrs. Pringle is ready to keep the building clean. Finally, the awe and energy of the wide-eyed children and their village relatives offer a new year of promise and hard work.

The first novel in Miss Read’s cherished Fairacre series, VILLAGE SCHOOL is a reprint of the 1955 tale that introduced the lovable teacher and her villagers to the world. Though written before Sputnik, the story line surprisingly retains a freshness and high energy level at a leisurely pace even as the remoteness of the village seems impossible in today’s Internet world. The enjoyable offbeat cast remains fun to observe and often humorous as life in a bygone era comes fully alive in what was contemporary then but a strong historical now. This demonstrates how good a writer Miss Read is.

Harriet Klausner

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Harriet Klausner