I really enjoyed this installment!
I loved that Room 26 had a whole new class of students, with a whole new set of problems. I also appreciated that it took time for Humphrey to get used to his new classmates. Even as an adult, sometimes I have to remind myself that you can't compare people you've just met with people you've known for years and years. Friendships take time to develop.
I especially liked the way Mrs. Brisbane handled the two students whom Mrs. Wright accused of misbehaving. I have very strong childhood memories of feeling like I was treated unjustly by a teacher, usually because the teacher made an assumption based on a moment's observation, and I was too shy or too scared to speak up for myself. I so very appreciated the way Mrs. Brisbane took the time to calmly speak with the students to get their sides of the story.
While I read this book with the enthusiasm of potentially giving it a 5-star rating, in the end I had to go with 4 1/2. One reason was the annoying overuse of the word "unsqueakably". When Humphrey first used that word in previous books, I thought it was cute! But suddenly, in this book, he seems to be using it all the time.
Also, I get that Humphrey is supposed to help out the class, but maybe the way he helped out Mrs. Brisbane in this book would have gone over better if Mrs. Brisbane had been a new teacher, like Ms. Mac. I just thought it was ridiculous that Mrs. Brisbane, a 30-year teaching veteran praised for being a great teacher, wouldn't herself know how to best match up students for classroom jobs!
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