The students of Diffendoofer School celebrate their unusual teachers and curriculum, including Miss Fribble, who teaches laughing, Miss Bonkers, who teaches frogs to dance, and Mr. Katz, who builds robotic rats.
Having faced danger and adventure to arrive at the primitive Smoky Mountain town where she intends to teach, Christy realizes that God has brought her safely to the people who will form her greatest challenge.
When the uncoventional English teacher who helped her conquer many of her feelings of insecurity is fired, a junior high student uses her new-found courage to campaign for the teacher's reinstatement.
Employing scientific methods learned in Mr. Sparks's class, fifth-grader Leon competes in a potato chip tasting contest and takes revenge against Lumpkin the bully.
Ten-year-old Fred (short for Frederika) narrates the story of school and village life amon the Athapascans in Alaska during 1948 when Miss Agnes arrived as the new teacher.
The five sixth-grade students in a small town prepare for their teacher's annual graduation ceremony, a mysterious ritual that several generations of students have experienced but no one can discuss.
Danny's decision to flunk the fifth grade deliberately is complicated when his teacher anonymously sends him a magical talking dog to do his homework for him.
