Theodore Boone: Kid Lawyer [Hardcover]

John Grisham (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 25, 2010 | Age Level: 8 and up | Grade Level: 3 and up | Series: Theodore Boone: Kid Lawyer

A perfect murder
A faceless witness
A lone courtroom champion knows the whole truth . . . and he’s only thirteen years old
Meet Theodore Boone

In the small city of Strattenburg, there are many lawyers, and though he’s only thirteen years old, Theo Boone thinks he’s one of them. Theo knows every judge, policeman, court clerk—and a lot about the law. He dreams of being a great trial lawyer, of a life in the courtroom.

But Theo finds himself in court much sooner than expected. Because he knows so much—maybe too much—he is suddenly dragged into the middle of a sensational murder trial. A cold-blooded killer is about to go free, and only Theo knows the truth.

The stakes are high, but Theo won’t stop until justice is served.

Brimming with the intrigue and suspense that made John Grisham a #1 international bestseller and the undisputed master of the legal thriller, Theodore Boone: Kid Lawyer will keep readers guessing and pages turning.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 6–8— While the ending may be anticlimactic, Grisham brings to his crossover bid the lapidary prose and frank insider's view of this country's legal system that makes his adult best sellers so absorbing. Only 13 but already so much a lawyer in his own mind that he keeps an "office" at home and dispenses legal advice to classmates and even adults, Theo finds himself in over his head when he's told in strict confidence that there's an eyewitness to a high-profile local murder whose perp is about to walk due to lack of evidence. That witness is an illegal immigrant, and so is understandably afraid of coming forward. What to do? Grisham injects occasional side remarks into the narrative (students in Theo's school are gender-separated "according to a new policy adopted by the smart people in charge of educating all the children in town,") and he embroiders Theo's dilemma with intriguing public and behind-the-scenes looks at courts, lawyers, and the realities of the judicial process. He also sets up the plot to move in ominous directions in future episodes—which partly, at least, compensates for leaving the murder trial unresolved at the end of this one. Expect heavy publicity-driven demand.
John Peters, New York Public Library

From Booklist

After years of taking on lawyers of the adult persuasion, best-selling writer Grisham turns to a lawyer who's only 13. Well, Theo Boone hasn't taken the bar, but he offers advice to his friends, hangs out at the courthouse, and watches Perry Mason reruns. Things turn serious, however, when a witness to a murder, a young illegal immigrant, comes to Theo with evidence. The trial is in full swing, and it looks like the defendant will walk unless Theo comes forward. But he's promised the young man he will keep his identity confidential. What should he do? Grisham doesn't have the whole writing-for-kids thing down quite yet. His style, a little stiff, sometimes seems as if it's written for an earlier era. In one howler, he introduces Theo's teacher: “He always addressed them as ‘men' and for thirteen-year-olds there was no greater compliment.” The moral dilemma Grisham poses is interesting, but when Theo (logically) calls in the adults, it loses tension. Problem-solver Theo sometimes seems like a sophisticated Encylopedia Brown, and as with the boy detective, expect to see more of him. Grades 6-8. --Ilene Cooper

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 8 and up
  
• Hardcover: 263 pages
• Publisher: Dutton Children's Books; 1 edition (May 25, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0525423842
• ISBN-13: 978-0525423843
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (217 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #22,924 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

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.

Photo credit Maki Galimberti

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

86 of 94 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Theodore Boone Kid Lawyer, June 7, 2010

By 

Barbara Widtfeldt (Anchorage, Alaska) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Theodore Boone: Kid Lawyer (Hardcover)

I have worked in a middle school library for 19 years and I think this book would be a hard sell. There is not enough action and at times it felt like a lecture on law. The ending was flat. Grisham should read the competition for this age group. The late Robert Parker (Chasing The Bear, The Boxer and the Spy and The Edenville Owls)did a great job on his three titles for YA readers - great for reluctant male readers. Andy McNab - Traitor, Robert Muchamore - The Recruit, Anthony Horowitz - Gatekeepers Series, Jack Higgins - Surefire and David Gilman - Devil's Breath, know how to take the kids to an intensity in a storyline that rivals video games. Do some summer reading Mr. Grisham.

169 of 190 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A Disappointment, May 26, 2010

By 

Mary Kate (Wisconsin, USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Theodore Boone: Kid Lawyer (Hardcover)

I was happy to learn that best-selling author John Grisham was entering the youth market with Theodore Boone Kid Lawyer, the first of a planned series. I read and enjoyed a few of his earlier books some years back and knew he was capable of telling a compelling story. Because I think children and young adults deserve great storytelling (how else will we instill a love of reading in them?), I was looking forward to Grisham's contribution.

Unfortunately, it didn't live up to my expectations. Not only was it not great, it wasn't even particularly good.

Thirteen year old Theodore Boone wants to be a lawyer - or perhaps a judge - he hasn't quite decided yet. He loves to hang out at the courthouse and sit in on trials whenever he can. He knows most of the legal types about town - judges, clerks, bailiffs, etc. and they all know him by name. At school, classmates approach him with their troubles and he gives them legal advice. When one of those classmates takes Theo aside and tells him that his cousin may be an important witness to a murder currently being tried before Theo's friend, Judge Gantry, Theo finds himself involved.

It's a good premise. But Theodore Boone Kid Lawyer stumbles as soon as it steps up to the plate. For the first 60 pages of the 260 page novel, Theo plods from place to place having (mostly) meaningless and (mostly) uninteresting conversations with (mostly) unimportant-to-the-plot characters. It's an awkward beginning to what I had believed would be a legal thriller, kid style.

And while the pace did pick up a bit around that 60 page mark when we began to learn details of the murder, the expected thrills never materialized. Instead it was one conversation after another that moved the plot forward to the completely predictable (and vaguely unsatisfying) conclusion. Along the way, there was no mystery, very little action or suspense and almost no humor whatsoever to punch the story up and keep us turning the pages.

To top it off, I didn't find Theo a particularly engaging character. He's nice enough, but because he comes across as rather unrealistically perfect, it's tough to warm up to him. There were a number of instances as well where I felt his thoughts and observations of others held tones of condescension - not an attractive trait, especially in a young teen.

My rating is 2.5 stars. For me, Theodore Boone Kid Lawyer hovered someplace between "It was okay" and "I didn't like it". Normally I round up because I want to give the author the benefit of the doubt. But this is John Grisham, for pete's sake. He should have hit it out of the park. Instead, he bunted.

40 of 46 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Nice read for 10-15 year olds and adults who enjoy a gumshoe story without the grit of commercial fiction, May 27, 2010

By 

Rebecca L. Murray (Denver, Co, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Theodore Boone: Kid Lawyer (Hardcover)

I bought this book for my 14-year-old as a summer reading book. I did read it first so I could know what he was talking about while giving me his daily chapter summery. I very much enjoyed it!

I wouldn't recommend it for a non-avid reader less than about 10 years old, though. It is very well written, but it is not childishly written, if you know what I mean. This is no Magic Treehouse book. I reads exactly like any other John Grisham novel, except is is clearly geared for middle school aged kids.

That being said, my 14-year old has already read the first 2 chapters and is getting sucked into it despite his every intention to hate any book that isn't a graphic novel.