Goofballs 06 – Crazy Classroom Caper

Tony Abbott's Crazy Classroom Caper is a very silly Goofballs mystery for 6 year olds in which four young detectives go undercover as teachers.

What happens

Jeff, Brian, Mara and Kelly are the Goofballs. They solve mysteries with a lot of help from Jeff's corgi, Sparky, who barks "Goof! Goof!"

Their old kindergarten teacher, Miss Becker, is about to move to a brand-new classroom upstairs. But things keep vanishing from her old one. First the pencils and crayons. Then her art easel, the puppet theatre, the fish tank and even the reading tree!

So the Goofballs have a plan. They'll dress up as teachers and take over her class for a whole day. Jeff wears the suit his grandma gave him, tie and all. Brian turns up with a furry moustache and calls himself Professor Shmartz.

How hard can one class of little ones be? VERY hard, it turns out. A girl is sick all over Kelly's history notes. Lil Mikey runs rings round Brian's geography lesson (where's France? "Right where it should be!"). And while they're busy counting heads at lunch, one of the children disappears.

It's super silly and the jokes come thick and fast. Brian spells out words to show off (T-R-U-T-H!). The kindergartners have an answer for everything, and not one of those answers is helpful. Children who've just left the infant classroom behind will love being older and wiser than the class for once.

There's a proper little mystery ticking away underneath too. Jeff writes every clue in his cluebook, and a sharp-eyed reader can spot them along the way. A builder who found an old lift. Some white dust. A packed lunch that's somehow still hot. (The answer is a really lovely one, by the way.)

It's a great fit for a child who's just getting into chapter books and likes to feel clever working things out. The chapters are short, the cast is small, and there's nothing scarier than a missing goldfish.

What to read next

If this one goes down well, the Goofballs are also in Crazy Case of Missing Thunder, which begins with Jeff telling how the four of them first teamed up (Brian's very first appearance involves his pants).