Jackson Jones witnesses the murder of his teacher Mr. Joseph in the school playground. He suspects there is more to the story and investigates the backgrounds of the two students, Ramzi and Lionel, who committed the murder. Through his investigation, Jackson interviews Ramzi's foster mother Ms. Ferrier and discovers Ramzi experienced abuse, which may have contributed to the murder. Jackson also uncovers that another student, Terry Stock, had pressured Ramzi and Lionel into fetching him alcohol and had brought the knife used in the stabbing. In the end, Jackson is able to reveal the full story of Mr. Joseph's murder.

1. Teachers Dead
Background information
The title of the book I will be reviewing is called ‘Teachers Dead’ written by Benjamin
Zephaniah. The genre is a murder- mystery/detective book as it is about a teacher called Mr
Joseph getting murdered by some of his pupils. The story line is based on a 15 year old boy
called Jackson Jones who is a pupil at …….. School who has witnessed a murder. The murder
took place in the playground by 2 students attacking a teacher called Ramzi and Lionel.
Jackson Jones realised there was more to the death of Mr Joseph. Why did the kids kill him?
What did he do wrong? And many other questions are answered as the book unfolds. He
gets to know the parents of the killers and Mr Josephs wife, Mary. He brings them all
together and the ending produces a remarkable moral to this story.
Characters
The main characters are: Ms Ferrier, Mrs Joseph, Jackson jones, Mrs Martel and Terry Stock.
Jackson Jones knows there is more to the death of Mr Joseph and looks into the background
of the lives of the murderers, Ramzi and Lionel. Jackson investigates a lot of information and
has some incidents in the way of him. Ms Ferrier is one of the murderer’s foster mothers;
she is known to be the most horrible woman on the street. She doesn’t have the best of
relationships with her son and as Jackson tried to find more about her, she would unveil
more of her son’s experiences which may have caused the death. She doesn’t like talking to
others, especially school kids, this has made Jacksons journey that much harder. In his first
visit, she gave him a ‘shower’ this was a bucket of urine poured on Jacksons head as
MsFerrier didn’t want to speak to him and he didn’t leave him alone. Eventually he talked
her and invited her to dinner…with MrsJoseph. They eventually went on morning television
and unveiled the TRUE story to the press. Mrs Joseph was a Main Character as she left all
the investigating to Jackson but was on his side and wanted to know all the information he
found out. They were in it together, they became friends and she even became friends with
Ms Ferrier. Mrs Martel was the schools head teacher and she accepted an offer from a film
company to make a film about the murder of MrJoseph. Jackson reported to her very often
as along the way of his investigation, he was bullied by Terry stock and his gang. At the end
of the story, we realise he links in to the death of MrJoseph as he ordered Lionel and Ramzi
to fetch him lots of cider. Also, Jackson realises that it was Terry stock that brought in a knife
on the day of the stabbing.
Themes