Mr Majeika Young Puffin Books by Humphrey Carpenter

Mr Majeika Young Puffin Books Reviews

• 
  Mathew

  Carpenter is better known for his biography of Tolkien JRR Tolkien A Biography and the first The Oxford Companion to Children's Literature but he was also an author of fiction too The Mr Majeika series tell the story of a wizard who arrives to teach Class Three in St Barty's Primary School Ideal for a class read or a newly independent reader the chapters are warm and funny Carpenter portrays an eighties school in a welcoming recognisable way with moments and humour that would be relatable in the present I rather enjoyed how the magician would lose his temper with poor behaviour Hamish Big often falls victim and cast various spells on pupils then apologise profusely but never know how to reverse the damage Children will delight in these little moments and the glimpses of magic this amiable teacher offers us
• 
  Kirsty

  Oh nostalgia I loved this when I was small
• 
  Sagheer Chaudhry

  Mr Majeika is the first book in a series of books that revolves around an extraordinary teacher with magical powers Within the first book Mr Majeika begins his new job as a class three teacher but his entrance is far from what you would expect of a teacher He arrives through the classroom window on a magic carpet which the children at the time are in disbelief of It does not take long before Mr Majeika goes back to his wizardly ways The first example is during lunchtime when one of the student’s lunch drops onto the floor and Mr Majeika picks it up and asks the child “What is your favourite food” The child replies with chips and suddenly a plate full of chips appear for the child One of the main characters in the book apart from Mr Majeika himself has to be Hamish Big a child from class three who always seems to cause mischief and trouble to other children in his class and Mr Majeika What does Mr Majeika do? He goes back to his old ways and uses his magic powers One of the most dramatic moments in the book where as a reader you wonder has Mr Majeika taken it a step too far is during a nature lesson where the class are learning about tadpoles and how they turn into frogs Of course Hamish is causing mischief and so what does Mr Majeika do? He turns him into a frog After a few days a solution is found for changing Hamish back from a frog which is to take part in a class role play where a princess kisses the frog in order for it return back into its human form Thankfully everything goes according to plan for Mr Majeika There are further numerous situations where magic is used within the book but from a readers perspective it is clear that the character of Mr Majeika is not making these situation occur intentionally but rather they are just out of his controlHaving read the book I feel that it is appropriate for children in the key stage two phase It is a book which has a lot of adventure and creativity expressed within it which is something that can be used to support children from Years 3 6 particularly because it helps with their own individual creativity This does not mean that this book is not applicable for children in key stage 1 particularly those that may be in a high ability reading groupI personally feel that not only this book but the entire Mr Majeika series of books are great This is particularly because of its ‘superhero’ feel like nature and magical element that children feel that they can relate to and would definitely recommend it
• 
  Eoin Cody

  Mr Majeika and the haunted Hotel by Humphrey CarpenterThe focus on this particular story centres on the main character of Mr Majeika a teacher at St Barty's Primary School Mr Majeika however is no ordinary teacher who is constantly entering unusual and exciting adventures When he and his class three find themselves stranded in a mysterious and creepy hotel it unfolds a series of incredible events Within this creepy hotel some very spooky things starts to happen and immediately captures the reader’s attention Incidents such as ghostly sounds vanishing people through walls and doors followed by strange lights ignite the sense of mystery and adventure evident in this book Other characters such as Hamish Big also add to the humour that can also be seen in this book Undoubtedly the mixture of mystery and humour that catches the reader’s attention along with the well detailed illustrations of the main characters and important events is what makes this book so good The use of complex sentences are also of a good uality which would be beneficial to any child throughout his education within Key stage 2
• 
  Tuyet Truong

  At some point in our childhoods many of us would have wished that we could do magic so that we could fly or make things disappear and reappear again Now imagine the excitement if we all had a wizard for a teacherMr Majeika unlike the rest of us turns up for his first day at school on a magic carpet Despite all his good intentions to be a teacher who does not do any magic it seems that his wizardly background has some trouble staying hidden When confronted with a badly behaved Hamish Big Mr Majeika finds that he unintentionally ends up casting spells he thought he had long forgotten such as changing Hamish into a frog or giving him vampire teethAs we grow we learn that the magicians we see on television are only performing tricks so the magic of watching them somehow fades Books like Mr Majeika can transport us to places where anything is possible and help keep the magic of childhood alive
• 
  Eloise baker

  Mr Majeika is a fun easy to read book Mr Majika turns up to Class Three at the begining of term and all is well at first However this begins to change when Hamish Big returns to his old tricks of generally being an unpleasant pupil who refuse's to listen to the teachersMr Majeika manages to turn him into a frog as well as giving him vampire teeth Hamish begins to be kind to everyones astonishment but has he really changed or is there a bigger prize he has his eye on??This was a very light hearted book to read I would recommend this for KS1 as the story line although nicely written is very simple in content I think children would enjoy listening to this story and could be used as an introduction to imaginative story writing They could imagine what would happen if they had a magician for a teacher and the adventures they may have
• 
  Lyn

  Class 2 enjoyed this amusing story of a teacher with magic powers and the come uppance of an unpleasant class mate; so it was a popular bookAt times I had to uickly edit out sexist language but generally it is a good read aloud for 7 and 8 year olds
• 
  Gary

  Fun
• 
  Isabelle Quegan

  Easy but fun and adventurous book to read
• 
  Kate Callen

  Read it to the 68yos this time and they really liked it Still looking out for the rest of the series