Teacher's Dead

by Benjamin Zephaniah

Libro usado en buenas condiciones, por su antiguedad podria contener señales normales de uso

Genres: Fiction, Young Adult, Mystery, School, Thriller, Contemporary, Mystery Thriller

224 pages, Paperback

First published September 3, 2007

About the author

A British-Jamaican writer, dub poet and Rastafari. He was included in The Times list of Britain's top 50 post-war writers in 2008.

Reviews

[Idkwhat Towrite · Rating 1 out of 5]

I do not know anything about the author, but this was definitely not his best piece. In fact, it was so bad that I had a hard time believing that someone with even the slightest capacity of thinking straight gave this book five stars. The main character and narrator is not only bland but also so annoying that I almost ripped out a page. He is rude and always has to make everything about himself. He didn't even know the teacher that well and acts as if his own life is going to end. When his mother calmly explains that you can not let such an event completely destroy you, he is extremely rude and thinks of himself as something better than his mum. Honestly, he should be thankful that his mother is as nice and optimistic as she is. He also constantly talks about "he's different" and "nobody would understand him", when in reality he just sounds like a 13 year old pick-me boy (a boy trying so hard to not being "like the other boys and just a very uncomfortable person to be with). Anyway, he's also very creepy with the dead teacher's wife, a widow. He constantly wants to talk to her, even though he has no reason at all except for "I want to know the truth." Again, he didn't even know this teacher. I believe that it wasn't even his teacher, so why on earth is he that stressed about it? It's honestly just really stupid. He also wants to be so edgy all the time, which honestly just gave me second-hand embaressement, and I cringe every time he said something about "society." I genuinely hate this guy, even if he's fictional, with my whole soul. Now, although I did like the dead teacher's wife, I still think the whole 5 stages of grief went a little too fast. She said she was depressed when a person she didn't know died, and now her man died, and in just a week or two, she just got over it? She just speed ran the 5 stages of grief? That's a little unrealistic. But I have to admit I did enjoy her speech. Until the main character started speaking.
I also have to say that I am myself a teenager, and so the "you're not the right audience" is not going to work.
There is so much I still want to say, but I think my opinion on this book is very clear, I did not enjoy this book at all. As a matter of fact, I would rather drink a whole tequila glass of bleach rather than reading it again.
1/10 would not recommend this to my worst enemy
Thank you so much for my TED talk

[Geoffery Crescent · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this book more than I did, being such a big fan of Zephaniah and in particular his first novel, Face. Unfortunately Teacher's Dead is just not as good. The main character, Jackson Jones is so utterly bland I felt it hard to feel anything for him. We're given very little info on him, certainly nothing physical, not even his age, apart from the fact his Dad has left, he's a bit of a loner and he likes school work, and these are hardly the most endearing qualities. His only real penchant is for hanging around with older women; his relationship with Mary Joseph (seriously, her name is Mary Joseph. I can't wait to meet her brother, Jesus God John the Baptist) is creepy to say the least, likewise with Miss Ferrier, especially after she's dumped urine on him multiple times. I also found it strange that his Mum took so long to get involved with his older lady friends, she was apparently fine with him going for drinks, chess tournaments and court dates with someone she barely knew. Jackson's head teacher Mrs Martel seemed strangely child-like, she had a chummy relationship with Jackson that was bizarre given he was one of her students and often asked him for advice. The weirdest thing about this book was the tone though. Child detectives are not uncommon in kiddie fiction, but they're normally accompanied by a host of well-meaning adults, a bunch of companions and a PG-13 mystery to solve. Jackson is out on his own, his informants include a mentally unstable old lady and his case is the murder of a teacher. It's a jarring blend of derring-do investigation and real life horror that just doesn't work.

The writing style is nice and fluid, although there were a couple of wonky sentences that would never have escaped my red editing pen, the plot rattles along nicely and the ending is good. I just feel the book would be better off as a therapy tool rather than an actual novel. Jackson is so nothingy that any child suffering a bereavement could easily put themselves in his shoes, but ultimately that's all this book ever feels, nothingy.

[Eugenia · Rating 2 out of 5]

Este libro fue una lectura que hicimos para el instituto de inglés, ya habíamos leído otro libro de Benjamin Zephaniah, Face, y como a la mayoría le había gustado, elegimos leer este. En realidad, a mí no me encantó tanto Face, pero mis compañeros eligieron leer este libro y bueno, a mí me daba lo mismo, así que dije que sí, pero no me había maravillado Zephaniah como escritor por lo que no estaba muy entusiasmada por leer este.

Teacher's Dead es la historia del asesinato de un profesor (ahre que es obvio), y cuando lees este título pensas que va a ser una historia llena de misterio, plot-twists, personajes secretísimos, un montón de obstáculos para llegar a "la verdad" o lo que sea, pero en realidad no es para tanto. O sea, sí, están todas esas cosas, pero está todo narrado y puesto en el libro de una forma tan light, sencillita, que parece una historia de misterio pero contada para niños. No es que esperaba que Zephaniah sea un Arthur Conan Doyle moderno ni nada parecido, no estaba una historia a lo Sherlock Holmes, pero al menos algo menos básico. Me pareció todo aburrido en el sentido de que nunca encontré un gran misterio.

Los personajes eran tan boludos que no les puedo explicar.
Empezando por el protagonista, Jackson. Jackson es un ¿niño? ¿adolescente? no sé porque nunca se dice su edad ni detalles sobre su físico que presencia el asesinato de su profesor y no se lo puede borrar de la cabeza entonces comienza a investigar sobre qué fue lo que realmente pasó. Jackson no tiene amigos, es mas o menos un nerd, y no tiene nadie que lo acompañe en su investigación. Entonces se hace amigo de la esposa del profesor asesinado. Y después de la mamá del chico que asesinó al profesor. Entonces él, su mamá, la esposa del profesor y la mamá del asesino se convierten en mejor amigos, son como una familia de tres mamás. Es muy bizarro jajaja. Es muy boludo todo eso de que se hace amigo de dos mujeres mayores y lo hacen parecer algo re normal, no digo que esté mal, pero queda tan raro jajaja. Y también era muy tonto todo lo que hacia en la escuela, muy muy fracasado, no sé si la idea del autor era hacerlo parecer eso, un tonto, pero le salió de todas formas. A mí me daba vergüenza por momentos por las cosas boludísimas que hacía/decía.
También la esposa del profesor asesinado, Mrs Joseph, es otro personaje que no me aguanté. Parece salida de una película de Disney. Buena, feliz, justa, amable, solidaria. Tan perfecta que da ganas de vomitar.
Y bueno, así podría seguir criticando a todos los personajes, que me parecieron totalmente inverosímiles, pero vamos a dejarlo ahí porque creo que se entiende el punto.

Como cosas positivas puedo decir la narración. Creo que el libro está bien escrito, en el sentido de que todo está ordenado de forma correcta para causar el "efecto sorpresa" del final. El final no se me hizo predecible a medida que iba leyendo, así que generó lo que tenía que generar, al menos en ese sentido.
Y no es un libro aburrido. No me aburrí y se me hizo muy muy fácil leerlo, y eso que estaba en inglés, así que le damos puntos por eso también.

En fin, puedo decir que Teacher's Death es un libro muy básico, pero no malo. Me parece que seria una lectura más interesante para nenes chiquitos, por la forma en la que se desarrolla todo, tan por arriba, pero en realidad es imposible que sea un libro para nenes porque en el primer capítulo ya te describe todo un asesinato jajajaja. Así que no sé, yo creo que si el libro hubiera tenido más profundidad, más detalles, me hubiera gustado muchísimo más, porque tiene potencial, pero sin explotar.

[Rida · Rating 5 out of 5]

it had me thinking completly something different. it shows that even though families represent each other one person can not be held resposible for what others in the family have done. it tells its readers that we should not judge people and dont make up our mind up about someone becuase of random gossip and rumours. the writer also shows that even though losing someone can be hard but we must move on and not hold grudges becasue forgivness is what makes the world go around.

i really liked it because i was really able to understand each characters motives and it really made me want to read more and more

[Amber · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5
I really wish that I had read this when I was younger.

[Eleanor · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars
I enjoyed the message this story conveyed, the narrative and storyline is something that makes you sit back and think about the “bigger picture”.
The only issue I had was the ending was quite abrupt!

[IaeBere · Rating 1 out of 5]

I read it for school, it was bad. The plot was meh, and the characters didn’t make sense. The ending was like too sudden. Just, not for me

[ꪶ · Rating 1 out of 5]

i could write a 2000 words essay called "why ’teacher's dead’ is one of the worst books i've ever read"
read for grade 9 english class

[Carissa Skittlethorpe · Rating 3 out of 5]

Taking catching up with books to extremes by finally reading one bought for me over 10 years ago and I really wish I'd read it sooner. This is teen fiction through and through, though it plays on the naivity of the protagonist delibrately, the writing that goes with it is often quite basic, bland and occasionally cringe as far as dialogue goes.
I see myself in Jackson a lot, a boy who's not like the other kids, he's weird, he over thinks everything and he's not quite intelligent enough to make it work for him either. He flits between adorable and annoying as the book goes on, depending on scene, but one crucial thing he has that centers the whole story is human empathy. Zephaniah teaches not only empathy, but in his well backed up Leftist arguments, that police and media are to be trusted less than victims of working class violence. Occasionally it comes off self righteous, especially when he's preaching to the choir but his poem after the book illustrates he really is a much better poet than a story teller. I have a lot of issues with the books writing but I'll always have a soft spot for its heart, I pine for a version of me that had the pleasure of reading this young and I'll keep hold of the book in case younger people in my life need a recommendation (or life lesson).

[Esther Reads · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was recommended this book by a close family member, I wasn't sure about it to begin with but I was so wrong, this book had glued to it from cover to cover, this books just shows you can't always believe what you see.
I do think this book should have a trigger warning for cruelty to animals, as in places and in my opinion it was graphic.
4.5 starts from me.

[Karen Barber · Rating 3 out of 5]

A gripping start. A teacher is stabbed outside his school. There’s lots of witnesses and the boys who did it confess.
That could have been the end of the story, but for Jackson Jones who witnessed the incident he is desperate to understand what happened. He befriends the teacher’s wife and starts an investigation into the case. It doesn’t take long for him to see that things are not as clear-cut as they appeared to be.
A quick read that will get students talking, though I’m not wholly convinced by the credibility of the story. That aside, it’s certainly going to encourage readers to question events around them.

[Carrie-Anne · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was intrigued to read this because I saw Benjamin Zephaniah on a tv show (The Big Narstie show) and I loved what he stood for and his personality. I do own another book by him, but this one was available on my library ebook section so I thought I'd give it a go.

The beginning was interesting. This follows a boy who witnessed one of his teachers getting stabbed and killed by two classmates. As a way to overcome and deal with what he saw, he sets out on a mission to look into the lives of the two boys to see if he can make sense of everything. with the help of the teacher's widowed wife, they uncover information about the boys life, family and childhood, while also trying to deal with the media's portrayal of what happened.

The middle was a little slow, but I enjoyed the book. There are two reason why this was only a 3 star for me. First of all the voice wasn't very compelling. The book is from the perspectives of a 14 / 15ish year old boy who witnessed a murder, but he just sounds like he's going through the motions telling the reader what is happening. There isn't really a differentiation between him, his mother, the widow. The only character who seems a little different is the mother of one of the boys (who at one point, tips a cup of warm urine on him from a window, to which he has barely any reaction!)

The other reason, and possibly the more important reason is how quickly the ending wrapped up. The book is rather slow paced, which I had no problem with. but the last two pages has about 20 bits of information in! A massive list of 'this is the series of events that actually happened' The End. Which felt extremely disorientating after such a slow pace throughout.

All in all it was worth a read, but didn't have the emotional impact I would have expected from a book with these themes.

[juli · Rating 3 out of 5]

*3.5

[ireneips · Rating 3 out of 5]

Primer libro “largo” en inglés. No es ninguna locura pero tiene lo necesario para que sigas leyendo y aprendiendo palabras.

[Érica · Rating 2 out of 5]

Creo que este libro tiene uno de los mejores y más atrapantes comienzos que he leído hasta la fecha (lo cual no es decir demasiado ya que cargo con muy pocas lecturas encima). Lo malo de empezar tan arriba es que luego no queda otra que bajar.

En Teacher's Dead se empieza directamente con el asesinato del señor Josephs, un docente de escuela secundaria. El crimen transcurre en el instituto durante el recreo, con lo cual muchos niños son testigos de su homicidio. ¿El asesino? Lionel Ferrier, uno de sus alumnos. Tengan en cuenta que esta muerte es muy gráfica y puede ser perturbadora para ciertos lectores.
La trama, luego, seguirá a Jackson Jones, un niño de 15 años que fue testigo del crimen. El trauma le empieza a pesar y decide que, en lugar de ir a terapia, comenzará una investigación por su propia cuenta para llegar a la conclusión de la gran incógnita: por qué Lionel Ferrier mató a su maestro. Esa, según dice, será su terapia.

La investigación autónoma de Jackson poco hizo para mantenerse al nivel que el homicidio marcó. La vara quedó muy alta. Después de la muerte del profesor Josephs (eso es el capítulo 1) no pasa absolutamente nada hasta el final, que pasa todo de golpe.
Jackson empieza a entrometerse en la vida de todas las personas que, de una u otra forma, quedaron vinculadas al crimen y acaba desentrañando todo a pesar de su joven edad. Y la edad es otro tema de conversación. A pesar de tener 15 añitos, Jackson no se comporta EN ABSOLUTO como un muchacho de su edad; literalmente, Zephaniah inventó un personaje adulto y dijo que era adolescente... No funciona así, corazón.
Además, a lo largo de la lectura van apareciendo varias mujeres en algún sentido rotas que ponen demasiada confianza en este chico de 15 años. No sé si se entiende que no está tan bueno que tres personas ADULTAS se apoyen tanto en el ánimo que les da un ADOLESCENTE...
Por último, el final. Después de tanto tiempo sin que pase nada relevante, empezó a pasar de todo de golpe. Simplemente no tuvo un gran impacto ya que el build-up fue malísimo, se sintió casi agarrado por los pelos.

Creo que lo habría disfrutado más si lo hubiera leído en mi adolescencia, I guess we'll never know.

Trigger warnings: asesinato, muerte gráfica, abuso doméstico, violencia de género, violencia animal, bullying o acoso escolar, psicopatía, temas relacionados a la salud mental

[Oriana F · Rating 2 out of 5]

Positive: I liked the story. I laughed at loud at a couple of dialogues that were actually really good.
The poem at the end I liked a lot.
Negative: I *DID NOT* like how the book was written.
In a lot of parts the relationship between narration and dialogue was not organic and I was confused as to why the characters were contradicting themselves on the same dialogue and the main character didn't provide some sort of explanation or show the change of opinion or some sort of character journey.
The setting was missing from a lot of scenes. The time spent narrating an important scene was the same as a pointless scene. The time management was usually off throughout the whole book; it actually made me annoyed and made want to stop reading but someone in my language class chose this so I was forced to read it.
Basically: I absolutely love fanfics but I have encountered some really REALLY bad ones where the actual telling is off, just like here. Scenes are rushed where they shouldn't, I get zero descriptions for MOST things and there is unrealistic dialogue. When that happens I gtfo of that fic. This was the same but here I had no choice but to keep reading.

I do not recommend this book unless it's an adaptation of the story so you don't actually have to read it.

[Pooja Khar · Rating 5 out of 5]

Although 'Teacher's Dead' is a story moving ahead bit cold and numb, somehow it managed to maintain the pace of interest.
Strategically written, this was the first book which made me realize that every person's behavior is result of the environment in which he grows, what he has seen throughout her/his life, the incidents in her/his life and finally what she/he decides to outbalance - live like that or learn and step ahead to correct the things of past.

[Levin Brunner · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book at school. After the first chapter I was addicted! I loved the book. But then I realized that the book is extremely boring and it happens nothing…
You just have to read the last chapter and you would understand the whole book without even reading the other chapters.
The story was not good, but the development of the characters is quite interesting!
Also the message „Seeing is not always believing“
made me think about life.

[15PattarE · Rating 1 out of 5]

In my opinion, this book had a very captivating start, however I got bored very quickly. I think this book may have been the wrong style for me, even though I like mystery and action books; I rated it a one because I wasn't excited to pick the book up and read it but it is a good story about everything not being as it seems and not to assume the worst all the time.

[The Bookworm · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ratings: 2,9/5 stars

I appreciate the lessons in the book, the book does teach you something, however, it was kinda boring, the ending was rushed, and the characters were not so interesting. The main character was a weirdo lol, he cared way too much about other people’s business, hence it felt unrealistic.

[Valen · Rating 1 out of 5]

No me gustó este libro para nada. Lo tuve que leer para mi curso de ingles y me pareció súper aburrido. También encontré algunas cosas muy repetitivas y que la historia se desarrolla muy lentamente para mi gusto. Creo que he leído libros policiales mucho mejores.

[Joanna Karaplis · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had trouble liking the narrator... he sounded like a ten-year-old, not a fifteen-year-old. Might have been better in third person. Raised some good issues, but ultimately fell flat.

[Hilary · Rating 3 out of 5]

Teacher's Dead follows Jackson Jones, a young teenager (I would estimate 13/14 due to comments made in the story, although this is never officially confirmed) who sees his teacher get stabbed by a couple of boys in his class. He feels the need to understand what happened, and so begins to conduct an "investigation" of his own.

This is a really interesting story. The point of view this is told from is interesting, and I love the idea of this as a story, especially for the YA age group. I think it covers an outlet of grief for someone that you don't particularly know well in a approachable manner, and even covers the idea of an alternative therapy to, well, therapy as an outlet.

Where this fell down for me, is that it doesn't feel entirely realistic. At times Jackson felt very young for his age, and at others incredibly old. I think the personalisation of him was a bit off the mark. One moment he was acting like a 10/11 year old, and then next making big decisions about a police case that didn't really involve him as anything more than a witness. He doesn't seem to have any real personality, and a lot of his decisions seemed founded in childish logic (which his mum then let him go ahead with?!) The adult's reactions to him also seemed odd to me - his mum trusting him with enormous decisions, his head teacher allowing him to demand things from her, his relationships with both the victim's wife and the murderer's mother... it all felt a little improbable.

I think this would be a good book for young teens to read, as a starting point to understand grief, therapy, and to never take things at face value, but it definitely needs to be explored further, and I think the work misses the mark with me.

[Leah Capewell · Rating 5 out of 5]

A teacher is dead, murdered by two of his students in front of the whole school. Right in front of all the students, including Jackson Jones. But no one knows why, Mr Joseph was a good man, people liked him, respected him and the boys who did it confess.
Jackson Jones witnessed the incident, and he is desperate to understand what happened. He befriends the teacher’s wife and starts an investigation into the case. It doesn’t take long for him to see that things are not as set in stone as they appeared to be.
I love the parts when the Jackson is talking to the murderer’s family, and he doesn’t corner them or force them to say anything they don’t want to say but he still manages to get to the bottom of everything he investigates.
This book is an amazing reflection on society and how people are not straight forward good or bad. This book is based of a true story, and even in the fictional parts, fragments of truths are weaved in. This book is not for people who don’t like blood or gore because there are some graphic elements. This book kept me on the edge of my seat and had me guessing the motives behind the case at every turn.
I loved how Benjamin Zephaniah writes this book because the language is clear and not overdramatised, this means the messages in the book comes across clearly because the readers don’t have to decipher the language so can instead focus on the messages.
I would give this book 5 stars because the messages are important and relevant to this day. I would recommend this book to anyone 14 or over because of the description of blood and violence.

[Bookish Bethany · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is definitely a young adult's book
I bought it from a charity shop nearby because the name 'Benjamin Zephaniah' wrung a bell - I remember a poem by him that we recited at school.

If you take this book as it is - simple but with a message - it is good and its message is important, especially to school children. The ethos of the story being about the wrongs of bullying, the inescapable nature of bullying at school, and what it can drive the victims of it to do in order to escape. This is an important book to read as a young adult in secondary or middle school, and I believe it should be taught in the classroom as an anti-bullying book and a book about not judging people before you know and try to understand them. It should be read by all school kids - by the bullies, potential bullies and the victims. Bullying at school stays with you for life. But I also believe it instills an important value of not looking at something a peer has done and using that to hate or dismiss them, but rather to look to *why* they did something cruel or harmful. What are the circumstances?

For these reasons this is a significant book that should be read more widely, but for me, older now - I found the main character unbelievable, the situations a little ridiculous and the teachers far too pliable.

[T · Rating 2 out of 5]

What a waste of a premise. Honestly between Rivers of London and this my recent reading activity has not been going great. I just wanted a murder mystery. That's all I was looking for! And this was a high school one which is my absolute favourite genre/sub-genre. But it is saying something when Meg Cabot can write a more compelling and logical mystery than this shell of a story. It explored nothing. The characters were nothing. The plot was meandering and pointless. The reveal was ludicrous. There was no subtle groundwork for revealing anything and our protagonist reminded me way too much of Charlie from The Perks of Being a Wallflower. The ending, oh my god the ending. It was SO rushed! Anti-climactic as hell.

The only reason it gets 2 stars is because I enjoyed the first few chapters. Plus it was a quick read. I thought a romance was being set up that could have been very interesting but no. Oh well, at least it gave a hilarious spelling mistake in the last page...perverting the court of law indeed...

[Dane Cobain · Rating 4 out of 5]

Benjamin Zephaniah is one of those authors who I find to be hit and miss, despite the fact that I really want to be a fan of his. It probably helps that he’s a vegan and so am I. I also like the fact that he tries to cover important social issues in his work.

And this book does exactly that, as you can probably tell from the title. It basically follows what happens after a kid takes a knife to school and stabs one of his teachers to death. It’s a heavy subject, and it’s impressive that Zephaniah is able to cover it in a middle grade book.

I thought he handled it pretty well, especially because of how difficult it is to write about something like this while getting the emotions right and not painting a picture that’s inconsistent with the way that people behave in reality. He also showed how different people grieve in different ways.

All in all, I was pretty impressed by Teacher’s Dead, and it reminded me of why I wanted to start reading Zephaniah’s books in the first place. I also think that it’s an important read at a time of knife crime and gun violence. Sad.

[Jimena González Lebrero · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mr Joseph es docente en un colegio secundario y un día es apuñalado por dos alumnos. Jackson, el narrador, también alumno, y testigo del asesinato, sabe que algo tiene que haber detrás de todo esto; dos chicos no se vuelven ni malos, y menos asesinos, de la nada. Y decide investigar.
Zephaniah escribió varias novelas para adolescentes en las que trata temáticas muy interesantes para trabajar con ellos, como la discriminación y el bullying. En este caso Zephaniah quiere que sus lectores no se olviden de que es mucho más fácil robar, tener problemas de alcohol y drogas, y hasta asesinar, si se vive en un contexto social y económico complejo. Hay personajes que no quieren siquiera comprender por qué un adolescente llega a asesinar a sangre fría frente a muchos testigos, pero están también los que tienen empatía por los menos beneficiados que terminan cometiendo crímenes por ser ellos víctimas del sistema.

[Tiril · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found the plot and story of the book great and I really did enjoy the writing style. Most of the characters, I found interesting and wanted to learn more about them. Sadly this is where the good ends. I found the main character Jackson, boring and bland. If the book was written from different perspective, I might have enjoyed Jackson Jones more. His blandness made him a bit annoying and unlikable. He wasn't a bad person, he was just extremely normal and bland. I feel like I would've liked the book a lot more if the story was told from a different perspective. Mrs. Josephs perspective would be way more interesting to read and hearing her thoughts about the murder and Mrs. Ferrier would be way better than Jacksons. I also believe that it could be interesting to hear Lionel or Ramzis perspective, or even Terrys. the shame, the fear and the guilt that I belive I could have gotten from that, would've made this book a four star read, maybe even a five.

[Raaisha Gupta · Rating 4 out of 5]

I even started looking at myself in the mirror and asking the same question. Could I? - From Benjamin Zephaniah
To all my fellow, readers, dorks, and schoolers another book review on a fantastic book by Benjamin Zephaniah. In this book its about a boy, Jackson who faces a disturbing scene of his teacher being murdered. He takes the matters in his own hands and tries to find out why did the murderer kill his teacher. It was led to unfortunate events of him going through many mysteries and trying to unscramble the reasons.
For me this book was very interesting although I think reading it when I was older would have been a better idea as I feel I was a bit young to read this book. It had scenes which I didn't think of at all. They were so creative and surprising.
Cya in the next book review