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Educating Jack by Jack Sheffield (view source)
Revision as of 15:26, 22 August 2020
, 15:26, 22 August 2020no edit summary
Normally, I shy away from later books in a series unless I've read the earlier ones. It's not always fair on an author and sometimes it's not ''that'' much fun for the reader either, but ''Educating Jack'' is an exception. It might take you a few pages to work out who is who or get a sequence of earlier events straight, but you'll not feel it to be a problem. Jack Sheffield is not just the author, he's also the main character in the book and the story is based - loosely - on his time as a headmaster in similar schools in North Yorkshire. The stories he tells have a real ring of truth about them - he understands children and the way they think. I laughed out loud on several occasions and once - when the wedding ceremony was explained - I had tears running down my face and I still don't know whether I was laughing or crying.
It might be fiction. It might be a light and easy read but there are hidden depths. The headmaster has a professional position to maintain within the village as well as the school and he has to be careful about what he says and to whom - and how he reacts to situations. There's a real feel for the eighties too. It's not just the leg warmers or the clothes - it's the names culled from ''Dynasty'' and similar shows which were blessed on children. It's a story told from a different perspective but it put me very much in mind of [[The Growing Pains of Adrian Mole by Sue Townsend|Adrian Mole]] and that's praise indeed. You might also enjoy [[Welcome to Life by Alice de Smith]].
There's a wonderful snapshot of a particular part of North Yorkshire as it was some thirty years ago. Life was simpler and perhaps kinder and lived in a particularly beautiful part of the country - on the edge of Hambleton Hills. Jack Sheffield lives in York and Hampshire now. As a Yorkshireman I can't imagine what he's doing in Hampshire, unless, like [[The Interview: Bookbag Talks To Alan Titchmarsh|Alan Titchmarsh]] he's doing missionary work.