Don't You Dare Read This Mrs Dunphrey is about Tish Bonnor who's
assignment in English is to keep a journal and turn it in at the end of the
week.  Tish is one of those girls with big hair who sits in the back of the
classroom.  One of her teachers calls Tish and her friends the Gum Cracking
Brigade.  An unusual thing about Mrs. Dunphrey's assignments is that if you
write something referring to her not reading it, she won't read it at all.
At first, Tish writes some small secrets like the fact that she can  crochet.
 Then, Tish writes about more personal things like how her father left her
and her little brother, Matt with their mom.  Then, her mom leaves and Tish
has to take care of Matt all by herself with only the money that she makes at
Burger Boy, the local fast food restaurant that she works at.  She doesn't
want to have to live in a foster home, so she keeps the whole thing secret,
but writes all of the events in her journal.  Will Tish have the nerve to let
Mrs. Dunphrey read the journal, or will Tish have to support herself alone?
Find the answers to these in Don't You Dare Read This Mrs. Dunphrey.

Main Point Summaries
 

      It all starts when Tish Bonnor, one of the girls who sits in the  back
of the classroom with big hair, gets the assignment to write in a journal
from her English teacher, Mrs. Dunphrey.  An unusual thing about this
assignment is that if she writes "Don't read this" or something close, Mrs.
Dunphrey won't read it!  Tish has her doubts, so she only writes small
secrets like how she learned how to crochet form her grandmother.
      After a while, Tish starts to realize that Mrs. Dunphrey really
doesn't read the entries marked with "Don't read this."  So she gets a little
bit more personal.  One of her entries is about how her father left Tish and
her little brother, Matt with their mom.
      Then, on Christmas, Tish's father comes back with a lot of presents.
Tish is a little bit angry with her father that he was never there when she
or Matt needed him.
      Then, Tish comes home from school and finds a note on the counter
saying that her mom had left.  She says that she left money.  Tish looks all
around, but there is no money in sight!  She then thinks that her mom will
probably be back soon.  She probably left the paycheck at work.  So, Tish
goes to the store where Mrs. Bonnor works and asks if they have her paycheck.
 The tell her no.  This is where Tish starts to panic.
      Her paycheck at Burger Boy lasts for a while, but soon, she learns
that paying bills, putting food on the table, and supporting the two of them
is going to take more than just $6.00 and hour.  She asks her boss for a
raise, but of course since she didn't tell him the whole story, he won't give
it to her.  She doesn't want to tell  anyone about it because she knows that
if anyone found out, her mom would be charged with abandonment and Matt and
Tish would probably have t o live in a foster home.  However, she knows that
they can't last very long like this!
      Finally, she decides to let Mrs. Dunphrey read all of those entries
marked "Don't read."  Mrs. Dunphrey tells the rest of the staff and they come
up with a plan for Tish and Matt to have a home.  Maybe not with their mom,
but with someone that cares for them and is able to spend money on them so
that Tish doesn't have to worry about not being able to pay the bills just
yet! Don't You Dare Read This Mrs. Dunphrey