Clearie, a one-hundred-year-old schoolhouse, is fed-up.
For so long, he has helped children get educated but been rewarded only by their complaints about how much they hate school.
He longs to get away.
His dream is to go to France, a country he has heard so much about in geography lessons over the years - but how could a schoolhouse possibly travel?
Eventually he comes up with a plan and enlists the help of two students, the Buggy twins; but not everything works out as he had hoped.
With an attic full of crazy crabs, led by the fearless Lancelot, his journey is less than enjoyable and, in his absence, the school system falls apart.
Will Clearie's dreams come true and the children get their wish for schooldays to end forever? Or has everyone bitten off more than they can chew?
About the Author
Maria Matthews lives near Ashbourne in County Meath, with her husband, one crazy collie and a lazy elkhound – all of whom help to feed her imagination.
Her two grown children return just often enough to check she hasn't got stuck in a daydream.
Her passions include writing, her family and her work as a volunteer with the river rescue team, in her home county.