Because of Mr. Terupt

Because of Mr. Terupt

Rob Buyea

Delacorte Press, 2010

$16.99, Hardcover

978-0385738828

March 17^th, 2012

Genre: Realistic

Age: 9+

Description: There is a new fifth grade teacher at Snow Hill Elementary—Mr. Terupt. In many ways, he quickly begins changing the lives of his students, especially seven of them—Jessica, the new girl from California who moves to Connecticut because her parents got divorced; Alexia, the class bully; Peter, the class clown; Luke, the nerd; Danielle, the girl who never stands up for herself and lives on a farm with a very religious mother and grandmother; Anna, whose mother had her when she was 16 and everyone still ostracizes them; and Jeffery, a boy who hates school because of a painful family secret. All their lives change when Mr. Terupt begins teaching them and touching their lives. When the class wins a reward of a free day and a major accident occurs outside in the snow everything changes for the seven kids and their teacher.

Opinion: This book is told from the viewpoints of the seven main characters—each giving a perspective of their own about one event in a particular moment. Each voice is adequately different. Secrets are revealed and when the inevitable accident occurs all the characters have different ways of dealing with it. I think the book might be a bit too mature and advanced for the readers it might be aimed at (fifth grade and up) but it is a powerful story which reminds me of the similarly plotted Flying Solo I read earlier this year. Buyea did an excellent job with his debut novel. I highly recommend this to readers who like realistic stories that are tear-jerkers but also get you thinking.