The Twins' Mystery Teacher

Sweet Valley Kids #3

by Francine Pascal (Creator), Molly Mia Stewart, Ying-Hwa Hu (Illustrator)

Who's Mr. Marshall?

Elizabeth and  Jessica Wakefield are identical twins who sit side by  side in their second-grade class. When their teacher  is out with the flu, everyone changes seats, and  the substitute teacher can't figure out who anyone  is -- especially Jessica and Elizabeth!

  That's when the new substitute teacher arrives. Mr.  Marshall is very strict, and the class is on its  best behavior. Then the twins see Mr. Marshall  getting into a police car. Could he be a dangerous  criminal? When the class finds out who he really is,  they are in for a big surprise!

Genres: Childrens, Fiction

70 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1990

About the author

Francine Paula Pascal was an American author best known for her Sweet Valley series of young adult novels. Sweet Valley High, the backbone of the collection, was made into a television series, which led to several spin-offs, including The Unicorn Club and Sweet Valley University. Although most of these books were published in the 1980s and 1990s, they remained so popular that several titles were re-released decades later.

Reviews

[Tiffany Spencer · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Twins Mystery Teacher
The twins are doing math problems and Jessica asks for a hint. The problem is twenty-four minus thirteen. Liz gives her the answer. Caroline gets mad but Liz tells her she can “give her a hint” too. Mrs. Becker has been sneezing and coughing not just this day but for several days. Then without any warning she just faints.

The class tries to decide what to do. Someone says they should tell the principal so Liz runs off to get him. Jessica decides to go into Mrs. Becker’s private drawer to look for smelling slats. Instead, she finds a smelly perfume.

Mrs. Becker starts to come too and mumbles “Don’t forget the cheese!” Charlie thinks her body has been taken over by aliens (now wouldn’t that be an interesting twist?) So, anyway she comes to and the principal comes back with Liz. Then he sends her home for the day. The kids worry about her for a hot second and then get excited about who their substitute will be.

Charlie tells them the next day they should sit in different seats. Caroline refuses, but Jerry says that if she doesn’t he’ll punch her in the arm and “get her”. Elizabeth seems to be ok with this (which is weird). The substitute’s name is Mr. Pinecone-he has red curly hair that sticks out at the side-. Basically he’s “soft” and they take advantage of this and act up.

The next day, they try the same prank, but this time the substitute is different. He walks in , slams his books on the desk, and then tells them if anyone wants to change seats before he takes attendance this would be the time. They all switch back. This subs name is Mr. Marshall and he is NO JOKE!

On Saturday, the twins and classmates are at the park, when a police pulls up next to Mr.Marshall and then he gets inside the car, leaving the kids to wonder what in the world is going on. Ken thinks he was arrested. I would say I don’t think it works like that, but then I’ve heard about the guy that they took to McDonald's after committing a crime. The kids for some dumb reason decide not to tell their parents. Jessica says her mom would be mad. If the parents tho can see *them* shouldn’t they have seen the police car? Aren’t they suppose to be watching them? Well, of course, they aren’t. How silly of me to think they would be.

Interestingly tho, he’s back on Monday. Todd thinks he escaped. LOL, Why in the world would he come back *there*. Jessica and Steven walk home and talk about a way to catch Mr. Marshall. Liz points out how unlikely this plan is. Liz and Steven just brush her off.

Lila and the girls are outside and she’s giving them tattoos. A police car pulls into the parking lot. The kid's race to the classroom. Mr. Marshall has heard the rumors and he explains to the class that he’s on the force. He works the late shifts which is why he’s able to be their sub. He tells them Mrs. Becker will be coming back the next day.

Mrs. Becker comes back the next day. She had an announcement. There will be a new student coming from Jamaica, and her name is Eva. Since Lila has been to Jamaica she wants to be the one to show Eva around, but Jessica vows that it’ll be her.

My Thoughts: I don’t know. It just seemed very odd to me that this man is a cop and wants to teach second grade during the day. Like being a cop isn’t a stressful enough occupation that he wants another one on top of that. Now, I know that I have a cousin that was a different points both. BUT he didn’t do that TOGETHER! But hey, this is Sweet Valley, and Sweet Valley as we know is an alternate dimension. I think tho that of ALL the adults in this series, Mr. Marshall deserves the award for “SERIES BEST MOST COMPETENT ADULT”. Mr. Marshall didn’t take any crap out of Jessica (especially) or any of em and I liked that!

[Sally · Rating 3 out of 5]

So he works the night shift as a cop but teaches during the day? Why?? When does this man sleep?

[Reading with Cats · Rating 2 out of 5]

Holy cats, this was so stupid. I’m no bank robber but I’m guessing the last thing you’d do if you had escaped from jail would be to return to your shitty substitute teaching gig. And, sure enough, SVPD pay is apparently so terrible that its members have to scrounge up side hustles. That does explain a lot, actually.

[Christy Roberts · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was another Sweet Valley book that I read yesterday. I had nothing else to do and wanted to finish the Kids series that I own up. It was also another book that Jessica wasn't too bad in. I'd rather her be half on the good side than a complete brat that is just a turn off on reading a book when the child is total brat and obnoxious.

The Twins second grade teacher ends up catching the flu and she passes out in class. Elizabeth got the principal and Jessica woke her up with some strong perfume she found. The class ended up with two substitute teachers.

The first one Mr. Pinecone seemed nice, but he let the kids walk all over him. I thought it was just rude how they threw things at him. I think Elizabeth and Amy where the only two not being bad. Elizabeth tried to say she was herself, but Jessica wouldn't stop saying she was Elizabeth. (One the two times I didn't like Jessica in this book.)

The second substitute was Mr. Marshall and he was a mystery in a way. He didn't liet the kids walk all over him. He also knew all their tricks about switching seats and throwing things. He called them on it right away too.

Then on a Saturday the kids where playing at park with their parents and saw Mr. Marshall 'being arrested' they claimed. That was when the Mystery for them started. By the day he was to leave the rumor that he had escaped from Jail got back to him.

It turned out that Mr. Marshall was actually a cop who worked nights. He brought his partner into meet the class as well. I knew there was easy answer to it, but it was fun reading the kids ideas on who he was.

Another great read in the Kids series.

[Ruvi Perera · Rating 4 out of 5]

Elizabeth and Jessica's class teacher is sick so they get a substitute teacher who is strict and mysterious. So they come up with a plan to reveal who he really is. Took me less than 30 mins to read the book. Good for kids.

[Tara Calaby]

When their second grade teacher Mrs. Becker faints during class, Elizabeth, Jessica and their friends try to help her as only small children can: sending for the principal and reviving her with perfume in the place of smelling salts. Mrs. Becker is sent home to recover and the class gets excited at the prospect of a substitute teacher.

The next day, they arrive at school and plan all of the terrible ways they’ll make life hell for their sub. He turns out to be a nervous looking man called Mr. Pinecone (no, really), who deals with paper wads and aeroplanes and children in the wrong seats just as well as his appearance suggested he might. Elizabeth feels a little guilty and Caroline Pearce tattles on the worst offenders, but the rest of the kids think it’s a fantastic lark.

Unsurprisingly, Mr. Pinecone doesn’t sign up for a second day of disrespect. He’s replaced by a mustachioed man by the name of Mr. Marshall, who is far more adept at dishing out discipline to the class. He’s strict but not unkind—although the naughtier children in the class disagree with that judgement. When playing at the local park on the weekend, however, the children see him getting into the back of a police car, which quickly sparks off rumours of him being a terrible criminal. These are not silenced when Mr. Marshall turns up to school as normal on Monday; the class decides he must have escaped from prison. (Why he’d then bother to turn up to substitute teach is anyone’s guess.)

Excitement reaches fever pitch when Mr. Marshall walks into the school building with a police officer. The kids rush inside to find out the truth… which is that Mr. Marshall is a policeman himself, and is moonlighting as a sub while working nights as a cop. Frankly, I think the escaped criminal story was more believable.

I found this one a little bitty, probably due to there being a lot squeezed into a very short book. I think it would’ve read more smoothly if poor Mr. Pinecone had been left out.

[Kylie · Rating 3 out of 5]

As copied from my Instagram account - Sweetvalleyrecaps - So Mrs Becker has been sniffling for awhile, but still keeps coming to work (she’d be ostracised in 2020), and then she faints in class. It’s pretty dramatic, and for the first time reasonably so. So the class gets a new substitute - Mr Pinecone. He never stood a chance. They’re horrible to him and he only lasts 1 day (not sure what the point was 🤷🏼‍♀️). So then they get a mean (aka firm) substitute who calls them on their BS. The class then sees him on the weekend getting into a police car and rumours abound - that he’s escaped jail, etc. Liz is of course the sole voice of reason. Turns out Mr Marshall is a cop by night, substitute by day. Wow. Are salaries that low in the US? Mrs Becker returns and all is well, except for Mr Pinecone who probably quit teaching. My rating - 2/10 because this one was all over the place.

[Amanda · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was about the twins and they did not know who their teacher was.

This book was kind of lame. Younger girls would love this most likley anyway. I don't remember it to well it's not a memberal book but I guess it's intertaning for the moment. That's all for now.

[Holly Wylde · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was the first book I read in sweet valley kids series (many, many years ago) and afterward i couldn't get enough of them-these played a massive part in my childhood and really got me into reading (something, as a dyslexic child, I found hard) Would recommend this series to any little girl!

[Partridge Public]

written by Molly Mia Stewart
created by Francine Pascal

[Shannon · Rating 2 out of 5]

Fact: Did you know that a group of Chinese women learning English used Sweet Valley Kids books as a supplement to their textbooks and THEY LOVED THEM? True story.

[Robyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this story. The first sub was Mr Pinecone, then this other man subs. I think he may have been a cop, which explains his strictness.

[Liufen Monreal · Rating 3 out of 5]

Oklar dag.

[Sheila Read · Rating 5 out of 5]

I remember the cover but just not the story.

[Siham]

I think is a beautiful book.