Fictional Role Model, Part II

I found another fictional bike hero (like Anna) recently while reading with my boys. We've become big fans of the artist/illustrator, David Roberts. Last year Iggy Peck, Architect was perhaps our favorite picture book, and this year we've thoroughly enjoyed The Dunderheads. I was relieved that one of my son's commented that "teachers in books are not like teachers in real life. In books, they are mean, but that's not true in real life." Wouldn't that be wonderful if he could maintain that perspective in his many years of schooling to come?


The Dunderheads tells the story of a motley crew of students, with varied and unique talents, who come together against a particularly nasty teacher. We are big fans of these kids: Hollywood, Nails, Junkyard, Spider, Clips etc. but of course, my favorite is Wheels. Here's his introduction:

And later in the story, Wheels moves his classmates' revenge plot forward... literally.

From: The Dunderheads, by Paul Fleishman, illustrated by David Roberts