Sunday, June 27, 2010

Theodore Boone, Kid Lawyer

My parents instilled a love of reading in me when I was young. Books were a big part of my life. I loved going to the library (still do) and I welcomed the gift of a new book with as much enthusiasm as a toy. I hope that we'll be able to help Paxton discover this too.

His bookshelf is already quite full of books, from baby books gifted by friends and family, to hand me down books that my parents saved from my childhood, to books Scott and I have bought from the secondhand stores, books we remember loving as a kid.

One new book on his shelf is Theodore Boone, Kid Lawyer by John Grisham. I have read a few Grisham books, including The Firm, which if you haven't read it, or have only seen the movie, go read this book! So exciting. This is his first young adult book, and I was interested to see if he'd be able to take his adult world of law and make it somewhat kid friendly. Of course he can.

Theodore is like any other 13 year old....except he dispenses legal advice to his fellow classmates and is unexpectedly drawn into the trial of a man accused of murdering his wife. The great thing about the book is that it doesn't get cutesy but also doesn't get overly scary. Theo has the fantasy parents and uncle that we all dream about at that age - indulgent, staying out of the way, but always have your back - which makes his lawyer and detective work go that much more smoothly.

Theodore Boone is a fun book and I could see this appealing to kids in the 9 and up range. There is lots of explanation of what lawyers do and how trials work which I imagine would be interesting to kids as well. The only complaint I have about the book is the ending which I found very abrupt. I don't know if that is because there's a sequel coming or if I was so involved I wanted more.