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The Fabled Fifth Graders of Aesop Elementary School

Candace Fleming (Goodreads Author)

3.81 · Rating details · 185 Ratings · 32 Reviews

Here's a chapter book with all the kid appeal and absurd mayhem of Louis Sachar's classic Sideways Stories from Wayside School! These hilarious fables, complete with morals, will make you wish you went to Aesop Elementary.

Welcome back to Mr. Jupiter's inimitable class in this companion to The Fabled Fourth Graders of Aesop Elementary School. His rambunctious, special stude ...more

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Hardcover, 176 pages

Published August 10th 2010 by Schwartz & Wade (first published August 5th 2010)

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Lists with This Book

Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing by Judy Blume

Nothing's Fair in Fifth Grade by Barthe DeClements

Sixth Grade Can Really Kill You by Barthe DeClements

The Fourth Grade Wizards by Barthe DeClements

School Grades in Title

131 books — 23 voters

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Community Reviews

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Jun 30, 2016 Janice RWG3 is currently reading it

The book tells the story of comic novels stories. Here’s a chapter with different chapter of each little story. Why I write for this book, because I had a contrary teacher in my school life. I want to know what different reactions between two types of teachers. The book relates how the classic and funny wired teacher taught their students and the teacher always goes his ways. He didn’t follow school rules.

At the start of the new term, the Aesop elementary school headmaster engaged five training The book tells the story of comic novels stories. Here’s a chapter with different chapter of each little story. Why I write for this book, because I had a contrary teacher in my school life. I want to know what different reactions between two types of teachers. The book relates how the classic and funny wired teacher taught their students and the teacher always goes his ways. He didn’t follow school rules.

At the start of the new term, the Aesop elementary school headmaster engaged five training teachers to come to the school. One of the teachers taught their students very unusual. For instance, he allowed his students to do makeup or not wear uniforms in the school. He doesn't follow Aesop elementary school rules. The other teachers didn't allow his ways, but every students were very liked of him.

One of chapters describes his students are very smart, charming, unique and many interactions with their training teacher. The chapter shows the teacher and students relations are very tight and we can know from their interactions. For example, one day the training teacher needed to write the self-criticism form. Because the training teacher was unruly in the school, he let his students be noisy in the class. Actually, his students expressed their opinions, the training teacher liked listening for his students thinking.

The students expressed their opinions at the first time. Nobody liked this teacher let them to express their opinions, so everyone liked him very much. Other teacher saw his classroom too noisy and they told to headmaster. However, the students knew the training teacher needed to write the self-criticism form and the students helped teachers to tell the headmaster to not punish their teacher and they just expressed their opinions.

In my opinion, the students just want to say their thinking, the teacher let them to express their thoughts. The teacher is a patient guy, I think in my elementary school life that I need to be quiet in the classroom. Because we are kids, the teacher hopes we could be quiet in the classroom. In the book, the training teacher wanted to know about his students opinions.

Then, the students were many feedback to him. The teacher wanted to listen for everybody, and he didn’t follow rules in the classroom. Even though you can eat and relax in the classroom. Because he thought the students were all day in school. This part I could not agree for training teacher, because the student should be have a student’s attitude. Maybe the teacher wanted to be close them. To sum up, this is a good thing, because no teacher like the training teacher can patient and truly love his students. It shows how relationship of students and teacher. The teacher must truly love his students and not just work and students must truly like their teacher.

It is a highly entreating read you can enjoy the fun stories and had fun trying to guess what the students respond to the teacher, because the students were very smart and clever.

I loved all the different character, qualities and how they show different interactions. Although, some of parts I couldn't agree about his style in the class. If the teacher pampers the students, they might give them an inch and they’ll take a mile. So, I thoroughly it highly entreating read. ...more

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Aug 26, 2011 Molly (Conan the Librarian) Crumbley rated it liked it

Shelves: reviewed, kid-lit, series

The kids from Aesop Elementary School are back, and this time they rule the school as 5th graders! Rejoining them is their beloved kooky teacher Mr. Harry Valentine Jupiter, the only staff member at the school brave enough to take on this class of rowdy misfits.

Each chapter, which ends in—what else?—a moral, contains a quick and funny story from the school year and highlights the different students who make up Mr. Jupiter’s unconventional class. Throughout the final year at Aesop, Mr. Jupiter’s ...more

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Aug 18, 2011 Meredith rated it did not like it

Shelves: ri-childrens-book-award, lesson-plan

I really wanted to like this book, but I didn't. Too many one- ... actually, half-note characters, too much absurdity that I didn't find all that amusing. But the kids it's written for would probably have a different opinion.

I do have to say that it could kick off lessons on:
- fables/morals
- descriptive character names a la Dickens
- spelling
- journalistic integrity
- crochet
- reading music
- geography

But I probably won't be teaching any of them in relation to this book, because I don't want to ha ...more

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Aug 28, 2010 Erin rated it did not like it

Shelves: j-realistic-fiction

I had high hopes for this one. The review that I read compared it to "Sideways Stories from Wayside School", which was one of my favorite books growing up. This book was definitely no "Sideways Stories". The chapters felt short and underdeveloped, and the characters were flat. The supposedly-loveable teacher, Mr. Jupiter, around whom the book is centered, was barely sketched in. I just wasn't able to connect with this book on any level.

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Feb 04, 2011 Sandy rated it liked it

Shelves: books-for-boys, funny, juvenile-fiction, school-stories, short-stories, contemporary

What an odd little book. Zaney humor is really best when it's cleverly backed by some intelligance, and it's this book's smart use of fable that really saves the story. Each chapter (and the chapters all stand pretty well on their own as short stories) is ended with a moral from one of Aesop's fables. These morals do a decent job of pulling the odd humor together into something more cohesive.

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Jun 29, 2013 Alex rated it did not like it

Shelves: strips

I didn't like this book very much. Each chapter was supposed to be a re-telling of a fable, or at least it's just a story that kind of fits one of Aesop's morals.

Any way the names are all kinda lame and don't really have any need to be weird some are a little bit fun but honestly Wayside school books are better thought out.

For second and third grade who may not like full books yet and need a book where every chapter is a story, that is completed.

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Jan 03, 2011 Marcia rated it liked it

Shelves: grades-4-6

The cutesy character names really rubbed me the wrong way, but I stuck with it and the story grew on me. Mr. Jupiter's class of wacky 5th graders has all kinds of misadventures, promoted by the their unconventional teacher. Although I wouldn't call the chapters fables, each is summarized by a moral, and that is what I enjoyed most. I think this book would be enjoyed by 4-5th graders who enjoy school stories such as Dan Gutman's Weird School series.

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Nov 23, 2011 Sherry rated it really liked it

Shelves: j-pb-er-middle-grade-ya-fict-and-nf

Humorous, clever, and brings a new twist to Aesop's classic tales - just the thing to point today's kids back to the real thing. Presents fresh, smart classroom vignettes which culminate in a chapter-closing point based on Aesop's Fables. This could have been a disjointed disaster, but in Ms. Fleming's skilled hands we've got a funny, contemporary novel that appeals to all types of readers, and boys and girls alike.

For ages 8-11 (best for 4th and 5th graders)
available in paperback

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Aug 03, 2010 Angie rated it it was ok

Shelves: juvenile-fic

I got the ARC at ALA and finally got around to reading it today.

I sort of wish I hadn't.

It wasn't terrible. But it wasn't good, either.

The first book, The Fabled Fourth Graders of Aesop Elementary School, was funnier.

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Oct 11, 2011 Annie rated it liked it

Recommends it for: 3-5th graders, boys and girls

Silly, good-humored, fun. Similar to Wayside school, but more loosely plotted, which is fine. You almost feel as if the author is writing for both the teacher and students because the faculty room jokes and stereotypes are spot on - again, in a good way. I'd recommend to boys and girls - grades 3-5.

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Nov 21, 2012 Ar Plante rated it it was amazing

This book was really good. It was about students that no one wanted to teach other than Mr.Jupiter. While in fifth grade the class learns many lessons and has fun. This book has all the fables of the 1 fifth grade class.

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Jun 08, 2011 McKenna rated it it was amazing

I think this book is a good friendship book and i love the storys and Morals in this book. I am a Obsessive reader which means i am always spotting a new book with potential and i definitaly found potential in this book.

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Jun 01, 2012 Kesha rated it really liked it

Shelves: contains-teaching-tools

This is a rare read that has abuses a poetic device, alliteration, which made the story cornier than it needed to be. I love the allusions to the many scholarly topics mentioned that will hopefully spark young readers to learn beyond the classroom curriculum.

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Apr 06, 2014 Becky rated it really liked it

Shelves: children-s

I rated this book from a kid's point of view rather than an adult's. While a little silly and shallow for adults, I enjoyed the fun stories and had fun trying to guess what moral would go with the story. An inventive and fun twist on the classic fables.

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Jan 28, 2012 Teresa Garrett rated it it was ok

Shelves: children-s-literature, humorous, january2012, middle-grade

I was hoping this sequel would be as fresh and fun as the first but I was disappointed. This book felt forced to me. I felt the character names and some of their situations were aimed more to adults than the children the book is marketed toward.

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Mar 01, 2011 Rhiannon rated it really liked it

Shelves: great

I love this book :D

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Mar 08, 2016 Mary rated it liked it

funny

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May 23, 2016 Krissy added it

i felt like it was really funny and insteresting and how the author put the book together.

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Feb 03, 2011 Melanie rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

This book is one of my favorites!!!!!!Everybody needs to read this book!!!!!!!

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Jan 14, 2015 Karen Ruiz added it

i think there should be another book because the book went on kind of fast

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Jul 19, 2013 Rebecca Heywood rated it really liked it

Continuation, still very cute.

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Jul 22, 2013 Emily Wallace rated it it was amazing

I LOVE these books. All grades (and teachers) will love these witty fun books. This one was just as wonderful as the first book. This is a perfect kid book!

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Sep 27, 2014 Jennifer rated it it was amazing

Recommends it for: 7+

So incredibly funny!

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Oct 03, 2011 Krista rated it liked it · review of another edition

Not as good as the first one, but still an entertaining read with Cirdan. I like to hear him giggle.

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Nov 02, 2012 Sarah Mae rated it it was ok

Shelves: clcsc-south-bay

Just as annoying as the first

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Aug 30, 2010 Amanda rated it liked it

Shelves: grade-4-6, realistic-fiction

Each chapter is a short story with a moral at the end.

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Jan 15, 2015 Biviana rated it it was amazing

It is like our story :3

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Dec 05, 2013 Kim rated it it was ok

Found the humor tedious. I'm definitely not the right reader for this book, unfortunately. Liked the premise.

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Cheyne rated it liked it
Oct 11, 2016

Georgie rated it it was amazing
Dec 02, 2012

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About Candace Fleming

Candace Fleming

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I have always been a storyteller. Even before I could write my name, I could tell a good tale. And I told them all the time. As a preschooler, I told my neighbors all about my three-legged cat named Spot. In kindergarten, I told my classmates about the ghost that lived in my attic. And in first grade I told my teacher, Miss Harbart, all about my family's trip to Paris, France.

I told such a good st I have always been a storyteller. Even before I could write my name, I could tell a good tale. And I told them all the time. As a preschooler, I told my neighbors all about my three-legged cat named Spot. In kindergarten, I told my classmates about the ghost that lived in my attic. And in first grade I told my teacher, Miss Harbart, all about my family's trip to Paris, France.

I told such a good story that people always thought I was telling the truth. But I wasn't. I didn't have a three-legged cat or a ghost in my attic, and I'd certainly never been to Paris, France. I simply enjoyed telling a good story... and seeing my listener's reaction.

Sure, some people might have said I was a seven-year old fibber. But not my parents. Instead of calling my stories "fibs" they called them "imaginative." They encouraged me to put my stories down on paper. I did. And amazingly, once I began writing, I couldn't stop. I filled notebook after notebook with stories, poems, plays. I still have many of those notebooks. They're precious to me because they are a record of my writing life from elementary school on.

In second grade, I discovered a passion for language. I can still remember the day my teacher, Miss Johnson, held up a horn-shaped basket filled with papier-mache pumpkins and asked the class to repeat the word "cornucopia." I said it again and again, tasted the word on my lips. I tested it on my ears. That afternoon, I skipped all the way home from school chanting, "Cornucopia! Cornucopia!" From then on, I really began listening to words—to the sounds they made, and the way they were used, and how they made me feel. I longed to put them together in ways that were beautiful, and yet told a story.

As I grew, I continued to write stories. But I never really thought of becoming an author. Instead, I went to college where I discovered yet another passion—history. I didn't realize it then, but studying history is really just an extension of my love of stories. After all, some of the best stories are true ones — tales of heroism and villainy made more incredible by the fact they really happened.

After graduation, I got married and had children. I read to them a lot, and that's when I discovered the joy and music of children's books. I simply couldn't get enough of them. With my two sons in tow, I made endless trips to the library. I read stacks of books. I found myself begging, "Just one more, pleeeeease!" while my boys begged for lights-out and sleep. Then it struck me. Why not write children's books? It seemed the perfect way to combine all the things I loved: stories, musical language, history, and reading. I couldn't wait to get started.

But writing children's books is harder than it looks. For three years I wrote story after story. I sent them to publisher after publisher. And I received rejection letter after rejection letter. Still, I didn't give up. I kept trying until finally one of my stories was pulled from the slush pile and turned into a book. My career as a children's author had begun. ...more

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