From the author of the beloved MR. TERUPT series comes a story with surprising truths about a student no teacher would wish for, and a teacher no student would want to be stuck with. No teacher has ever liked Carter Avery. So he doesn’t expect that Ms. Olivia Krane will be any different. In fact, he heard the rumor that the new teacher—nicknamed Owl-livia, or the Owl, for short—can twist her head all the way round to catch any kid who’s up to no good. And since Carter has a hard time sitting still and not blurting stuff out, he’s sure he’s in for rough times being sent to the principal’s office. Making things worse: annoying know-it-all Missy Gerber is in his class! But the Owl knows just how to handle Carter’s energy, showing his classmates another side of him. Everything’s looking up until Carter finds out that some people would like to see Ms. Krane replaced. The news spurs him on a secret mission to save his teacher. Then a disruption, heated words with Missy, and trouble outside of school test Carter’s plan, heart, and courage, as he navigates an especially tricky school year. With a stellar cast of characters, young and old, Rob Buyea pens another authentic story of life in and out of middle school, an experience not soon forgotten. A 2026-2027 South Carolina Book Award Nominee! A Mark Twain 2026-2027 MASL Readers Award Nominee! "A school story that’s full of heart." — Kirkus Reviews ROB BUYEA is a former teacher and the author of the MR. TERUPT and PERFECT SCORE series, as well as two stand-alone novels: What Comes Next , and The Daredevils . 1 Meet Your Teacher Day We had this big thing at Bates Elementary called Meet Your Teacher Day. It happened at the end of the year, with everyone gathered outside on the blacktop behind the school. I had my fingers crossed, hoping not to see Ms. Krane, ’cause if she really was pregnant, then she wouldn’t be teaching come September and I could stop worrying. I don’t think a pregnant lady can teach fourth grade. I should’ve crossed my toes too. She was there--and she sure didn’t look like she had a baby on the way. Stupid rumor. I bet Missy Gerber started it. I kicked the ground. Then I quick double crossed all my fingers on both hands ’cause I needed all the luck I could get so that I didn’t get stuck with Ms. Krane. Every class from kindergarten all the way to fifth grade had a designated area where we sat and hung out while the teachers huddled in the middle--all except for Ms. Krane. She stood by herself, kinda like me whenever we had to choose partners for anything. Me and Ms. Krane weren’t the same, though. No way. Ms. Krane stood by herself ’cause she was mean. She was the meanest and nastiest teacher to ever step foot in a classroom. She was pretty old, I think like thirty-five or forty. She taught somewhere else before coming to Bates last month. Everyone said she got fired from her old school for being so mean. She’d been hiding in the library ever since getting here, working as Ms. Beecher’s assistant. Ms. Krane was rarely spotted, but now she was coming out of hiding ’cause next year she was getting her own classroom--and I wanted no part of it. No one did, ’cause not only was she mean, she was scary-looking. And that was the truth. Ms. Krane had this giant reddish-purple mark that covered the left side of her face, all the way from her chin up past her eye. She reminded me of a raccoon, except her first name was Olivia and all the kids called her Owl-ivia--or the Owl, for short--’cause she could twist her head all the way around like an owl, which meant you could never do anything sneaky behind her back and get away with it. If you tried, she’d see you and then you were a goner. I was sitting by myself at my lunch table when I overheard Kyle Pattie telling his buddies what happened after he tried shoving a book back on the shelf in the library where it didn’t belong--which was Ms. Beecher’s big no-no, but everyone did it. “ ‘That’s not how we do things here,’ a voice behind me whispered all creepy. I could feel her hot breath on the back of my neck!” Kyle exclaimed. “I spun around and there she was, looming over me. I swear, she came out of nowhere, and when I looked up at her face, she made her purple eye narrow. Then she pulled my book out of the wrong spot and said, ‘I’ll take care of it this time--but not the next.’ And she made that sound like a warning,” Kyle finished. His wasn’t the only story I heard. There were others. If Ms. Krane could make the library scary, her classroom was gonna be the worst. I crossed my fingers super tight. Here’s how this meet-your-teacher thing worked: Starting with first grade, each teacher stepped forward and read off the student names on their new roster. When your name was called, you got up and went and stood in line with your new teacher. Then you walked to your next year’s classroom with your next year’s class and spent the last half hour of the day meeting your new teacher