Mr Majeika and the Music Teacher

Humphrey Carpenter's Mr Majeika and the Music Teacher is a daft, magical school story for 6 year olds about a witch who arrives at St Barty's in an envelope.

What happens

Mr Majeika teaches Class Three. He used to be a wizard, and he's trying very hard to be an ordinary teacher instead. It doesn't always work.

This term a letter goes home to every parent. The new music teacher wants a school orchestra, and everyone must bring an instrument. Hamish Bigmore, the rudest boy in the school, demands a double bass. It's far too big for him to play.

The head teacher hasn't hired anyone. But a letter lands on the mat, a photo falls out, and it grows into a real old woman. Miss Wilhelmina Worlock has arrived by post (a first-class stamp is much cheaper than a broomstick, apparently).

Poor Mr Potter tries to send her away. He ends up holding a toad, stuck to the door handle, with a spider on his finger and a crab clamped to his bottom!

Her teaching method is called So-Spooky. If you don't practise, your fingers itch all weekend. Twins Thomas and Pete end up standing on chairs pressing the strings for Hamish while he saws away with the bow and takes all the credit.

And Hamish has a plan. If he plays well at the concert, Miss Worlock has promised to teach him magic. Then he can turn Mr Majeika into a frog.

It's properly silly in the best way. The staffroom is taken over by a bubbling cauldron and tins of Bats' Tongues in Tomato Sauce. Mr Majeika's pockets fill up with Hamish's leftover lunch, mushy peas and all. Which child wouldn't love that?

Mr Majeika is a gentle, slightly nervous hero, and it's the children who keep pushing him to be brave. Jody's clever ideas matter just as much as his spells.

The chapters are short and the jokes come thick and fast, so it works brilliantly as a bedtime read-aloud.

What to read next

Want to see how it all began? Go back to the very first Mr Majeika book, where Class Three's new teacher flies in through the classroom window on a magic carpet.