School for Bandits

Hannah Shaw's School for Bandits is a funny picture book for 5 year olds about a raccoon who is far too polite to be a proper bandit.

What happens

Ralph Raccoon has a problem, or at least his parents think so. He's neat. He's well behaved. He brushes his teeth. And he says please and thank you! How will he ever be as great a bandit as Grandpa Cutlass?

So off he goes to Bandit School. The teacher is Mrs Mischief and the very first lesson is Unpleasant Behaviour. Ralph isn't very good at it. When everyone laughs at him, he says "Pardon me".

His first week is one disaster after another. He fails science. He fails art. He can't bring himself to take things without asking, however much Mrs Mischief scolds.

At the end of term, every pupil gets a big empty sack. Whoever fills theirs with the most loot over the holidays wins Best Bandit in School. Ralph's sack stays empty the whole time. He just doesn't want to cause trouble.

What happens on the walk back to school is the best bit, so no spoilers here. Let's just say Ralph's good manners turn out to be handy after all.

It's a lovely twist on the usual story. Normally the naughty one has to learn to be good. Here everybody wants Ralph to be BAD, and he simply can't manage it. Children love being in on that sort of joke. His dad sighing that they didn't bring him up to be like this is a great line to read aloud.

It's also a gentle one for a child who feels they don't quite fit in. The other raccoons are bigger, bolder and badder, and Ralph stays himself anyway. Isn't that the best kind of hero?

What to read next

If they love an odd one out in an animal gang, Hannah Shaw's The Scruffs is in the library too. The scruffiest pets in town share a tatty old pet shop, until a perfectly groomed cat called Ursula arrives in a jewelled carrier.