Fourth grad­er Eli Zip­per­baum does­n’t like to sit still in class. He’d rather eat jelly­beans, wear sil­ly glass­es, crack jokes, and let his mind wan­der. He can fig­ure out math prob­lems when he needs to, is hap­py to help his grand­moth­er and his friends when they need it, and is an all-around nice guy, but pay­ing atten­tion in school is too much work and does­n’t seem to be worth his while.

One day, Eli notices the prin­ci­pal peer­ing in at him through the glass win­dow of the class­room door. It hap­pens sev­er­al days in a row and seems very sus­pi­cious. Eli won­ders why he’s being watched. What is he doing wrong? What is the prin­ci­pal think­ing? But maybe Eli isn’t the one being eval­u­at­ed after all. Is it the teacher who’s in trou­ble, and can Eli help?

David Adler’s new book for Menucha Pub­lish­ers is set in an Ortho­dox school and fea­tures a per­son­able cast of young char­ac­ters. This engag­ing easy read­er is rec­om­mend­ed for ages 7 to 10.