THIS is the fifth book in Jack Sheffield’s series about life in a small North Yorkshire primary school. He was head teacher of schools in the county in the late Seventies and Eighties and has drawn on his memories of those days in the classroom to create the charming Teacher series.

Fans of the books will not be disappointed, and newcomers will soon find themselves engrossed in the life and times of Ragley-on-the-Forest school. Sheffield has an engaging writing style and is adept at bringing his characters to life – think a cross between All Creatures Great And Small and Heartbeat, set in the early Eighties, and you’ll get the picture.

Readers are left on tenterhooks on the final page, so there is surely a sixth book in the pipeline.

These are simple, uncomplicated stories, well told.

Sandra Mangan