The New Teacher is the first book is ‘The Adventures of Miss Charlotte’ by Dominique Demers. Told from the POV of one of the class pupils, Miss Charlotte arrives at the school as the supply teacher as the normal class teacher is on maternity leave.

The class of nine year old’s find her strange and don’t know what to make of her, especially when she removes her hat and pulls a pebble from the top of her head that she calls Gertrude and begins to have a conversation with it.

Over the course of the next few weeks the pupils learn that Miss Charlotte isn’t like the other teachers, she lets them have fun for most of the day as long as they work hard on their subjects for the first two hours. She joins in with sports and tells the fascinating tales about her travels.

The other teachers at the school are not convinced they like her teaching methods and the headteacher is furious of her behaviour and calls a meeting with the class parents. Poor Miss Charlotte whatever will happen to her?

The book reminds me of a cross between Roald Dahl’s work – just less wackiness and the Mary Poppins books as the eccentric teacher breezes in brings the children lots of joy and then disappears again. The Illustrations to remind me of those by Quentin Blake in the Roald Dahl books. They also bring the story to life as the reader gets to see how weird and wonderful Miss Charlotte is.

At just 78 pages long this is a quick read but it is full of fun and amusing moments. There are also plenty of life lessons to be learned within the pages, especially about if you need to talk to someone about your problems.

The New Teacher is a great start to what looks like is going to be a fascinating children’s series. Now on to book two ‘The Mysterious Librarian’

About the Author

Dominique Demers is a doctor in youth literature, an author and screenwriter who has lived in Quebec for several years. She is best known for the children’s novels she has written for several years.

She has a Bachelor of Arts degree from McGill University. She then obtained a certificate in teaching at the University of Montreal, which she will follow a master’s degree in children’s literature at the University of Quebec in Montreal. She completed a Ph.D. in children’s literature at the University of Sherbrooke in 1994.

For twelve years, she was a journalist for the magazine Châtelaine and the magazine l’Actualité, and she writes for the newspaper Le Devoir. She has also produced various documents for television and radio.

For fifteen years, she taught children’s literature at the Université du Québec à Montréal and the Université de Sherbrooke.

The novels of the Charlotte youth series were used to develop the screenplays of the films The Mysterious Miss C. and the Incomparable Mademoiselle C. Moreover, in 2005, she put in scenario A winter of turmoil for a televised soap opera.

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