Publication Date: June 6, 2011 | Age Level: 8 and up | Grade Level: 3 and up | Series: Theodore Boone
Theodore Boone is back in a new adventure, and the stakes are higher than ever. When his best friend, April, disappears from her bedroom in the middle of the night, no one, not even Theo Boone--who knows April better than anyone--has answers.
As fear ripples through his small hometown and the police hit dead ends, it's up to Theo to use his legal knowledge and investigative skills to chase down the truth and save April.
Filled with the page-turning suspense that made John Grisham a #1 international bestseller and the undisputed master of the legal thriller, Theodore Boone's trials and triumphs will keep readers guessing until the very end.
'Grisham is wise and pragmatic about the world: poor parenting, prescription drug misuse and the violent lives of drifters all feature in this fast-paced tale' -- Financial Times on ABDUCTION Praise for THEODORE BOONE:'Not since Nancy Drew has a nosy, crime-obsessed kid been so hard to resist.' -- The New York Times 'Gripping... I would recommend this book to anyone who loves a good mystery. I think everyone will be enthralled by Theodore Boone.' -- Scholastic News 'There's a new kid on the young fiction block, and this one really does have serious powers: Theodore Boone, half-boy, half-lawyer... fans will be pleased to know there will be more of Theo's adventures to come.' -- Sunday Express 'If you aspire to turn your children into lawyers who will keep you in your old age, John Grisham's Theodore Boone, his first novel for young people, might be for you'. -- Sunday Times 'Contemporary lit for young readers has its icons: Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, Artemis Fowl. Make way for the new kid on the block.' -- USA Today Praise for John Grisham:'Nobody does legal fiction better' -- Daily Express 'a master of his craft' -- Guardian
--This text refers to an alternate
Hardcover
edition.
About the Author
John Grisham is the author of 21 novels, one work of non-fiction, and one collection of stories. His works are translated into 52 languages. He lives in Virginia and Mississippi.
Product Details
Reading level: Ages 8 and up
Hardcover: 256 pages
Publisher: Dutton Juvenile; First Edition first Printing edition (June 6, 2011)
Long before his name became synonymous with the modern legal thriller, John Grisham was working 60-70 hours a week at a small Southaven, Mississippi law practice, squeezing in time before going to the office and during courtroom recesses to work on his hobby--writing his first novel. Born on February 8, 1955 in Jonesboro, Arkansas, to a construction worker and a homemaker, John Grisham as a child dreamed of being a professional baseball player. Realizing he didn't have the right stuff for a pro career, he shifted gears and majored in accounting at Mississippi State University. After graduating from law school at Ole Miss in 1981, he went on to practice law for nearly a decade in Southaven, specializing in criminal defense and personal injury litigation. One day at the DeSoto County courthouse, Grisham overheard the harrowing testimony of a twelve-year-old rape victim and was inspired to start a novel exploring what would have happened if the girl's father had murdered her assailants. Getting up at 5 a.m. every day to get in several hours of writing time before heading off to work, Grisham spent three years on A Time to Kill and finished it in 1987. Initially rejected by many publishers, it was eventually bought by Wynwood Press, who gave it a modest 5,000 copy printing and published it in June 1988.That might have put an end to Grishams hobby. However, he had already begun his next book, and it would quickly turn that hobby into a new full-time career. When he sold the film rights to The Firm to Paramount Pictures for $600,000, Grisham suddenly became a hot property among publishers, and book rights were bought by Doubleday. Spending 47 weeks on The New York Times bestseller list, The Firm became the bestselling novel of 1991.The successes of The Pelican Brief, which hit number one on the New York Times bestseller list, and The Client, which debuted at number one, confirmed Grisham's reputation as the master of the legal thriller. Grisham's success even renewed interest in A Time to Kill, which was republished in hardcover by Doubleday and then in paperback by Dell. This time around, it was a bestseller. Since first publishing A Time to Kill in 1988, Grisham has written one novel a year (his other books are The Firm, The Pelican Brief, The Client, The Chamber, The Rainmaker, The Runaway Jury, The Partner, The Street Lawyer, The Testament, The Brethren, A Painted House, Skipping Christmas, The Summons, The King of Torts, Bleachers, The Last Juror, The Broker, Playing for Pizza, and The Appeal) and all of them have become international bestsellers. There are currently over 225 million John Grisham books in print worldwide, which have been translated into 29 languages. Nine of his novels have been turned into films (The Firm, The Pelican Brief, The Client, A Time to Kill, The Rainmaker, The Chamber, A Painted House, The Runaway Jury, and Skipping Christmas), as was an original screenplay, The Gingerbread Man.
This review is from: Theodore Boone: The Abduction (Hardcover)
I'm a good bit older than the suggested age range for this "juvenile reading" book. However, it's as much of a page-turner as Grisham's adult thrillers. Young Mr. Boone, middle school son of two lawyers, uses his smarts and legal knowledge to investigate a disappearance, the victim of which is a good friend. With help from his friends, and his black-sheep uncle, will Theo find the missing friend? It took only a few hours for me to find out, ripping through each page with great reading pleasure.
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This review is from: Theodore Boone: The Abduction (Hardcover)
In terms of reviewing this book, it is important to think of it from the standpoint of a 11-15 reading the book and not an adult as the young adult is really Grisham's primary target audience. With that in mind, in this story Grisham reintroduces us to Theodore Boone--a young man with a penchant for detective work and a budding 13-yr old "attorney." Both of his parents are lawyers and as a result he has a unique opportunity to combine his entrepreneurial skills with the ability to learn at his parents feet. In this the second Theodore Boone story by Grisham, he is immediately thrown into the fray when his best friend April goes missing. He doesn't necessarily believe at first that she was in fact taken by someone else but after days of her continuing to go missing as well as the appearance of an old family relative back from jail, he fears the worst. The story continues with his somewhat odd uncle Ike once again coming on the scene to help out and eventually play a big role in the resolution of this mystery.
From the standpoint of recommending it to children, I thought the subject matter was appropriate for agest 13-and up. The subject matter of kidnapping might be a bit tough for kids younger than that to take and sometimes the descriptions got fairly graphic. The story also touches on divorce which is a subject that needs to be handled carefully around young children. I was slightly dissapointed with how Grisham chose to end the book. It felt very abrupt and I thought he could have done a bit of a better job goign slightly deeper into the relationship between Theodore and his parents and even Theodore and April. Overall however a strong book and one that will likely do well especially with teens.
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20 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 starsPage turner!, June 11, 2011
A Kid's Review
This review is from: Theodore Boone: The Abduction (Hardcover)
Theodore Boone is back again, and in John Grisham's newest mystery, Theo's friend, April, has vanished! The only problem is that no one has a clue what happened. Theo, her best friend, decides to do his own secret investigations with his closest friends and his ex-lawyer uncle Ike. Even working together on search efforts, they are getting nowhere fast, and everyone starts to wonder, "How long until we see her on the news dead or injured?"
This book is very well done. It is a page-turner that is almost impossible to put down. I recommend this to a younger audience, but even adults will like it!
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