When Cara Landry’s dad walked out on her family a year ago, Cara dealt with her anger and sadness by lashing out at everyone at her old school, writing scathing articles in The Landry News—her self-titled newspaper—and posting them for all to see. Now at a new school, Denton Elementary, Cara feels invisible, and after the disaster of fourth grade, she wants fifth grade to be different.

Cara’s last class of the day is with Mr. Larson in Room 145, which is a cluttered mess of old books, projects, and wall hangings. Mr. Larson’s approach to teaching involves reading his newspaper while his students do whatever they want, which suits Cara fine. She spends her time thinking, writing, and keeping her head down. That is until the first Friday in October when she uses four tacks to put up the school’s first edition of The Landry News.

Mr. Larson notices the kids congregating around The Landry News and gets up to investigate. There’s an article about his classroom that outlines how there is lots of learning but no teaching. It concludes with a question: “if the students teach themselves, and they also teach each other, why is Mr.