“A row­dy group of stu­dents and their eccen­tric teacher star in Flem­ing’s col­lec­tion of deter­mined­ly loopy vignettes, each of which ends with an Aesop-like moral. On the day before school opens, the fran­tic prin­ci­pal still has not found a teacher for the noto­ri­ous­ly unruly fourth graders. In walks Mr. Jupiter, whose cre­den­tials include work­ing as a trans­la­tor for Big­foot, dis­cov­er­ing the lost city of Atlantis and study­ing at the Coochie-Coochie Insti­tute for Mis­be­haved Mon­keys; he is hired on the spot. When he refus­es to react to his stu­dents’ mis­be­hav­ior, they think up pranks guar­an­teed to rile him, but no one dares to pull them off (moral: “It is one thing to talk about it, anoth­er to do it”). … there’s plen­ty to laugh at and even to pon­der.” (Pub­lish­ers Week­ly)