Because of Mr Terupt

Because of Mr. Terupt by Rob Buyea is about the new fifth grade teacher at Snow Hill School in Connecticut, Mr. Terupt. The story  is told by seven of his students: Peter, Jessica, Alexia, Luke, Danielle, Luke and Jeffery. Each student represents some archetype of the typical classroom, but each child is fully fleshed out and real. The story is structured month by month during the September-June school year. Mr. Terupt is a fun but challenging teacher. He sees the best person each one of them can be and tries to help each one find that person, until an accident changes everything.

Because this is a children’s story everything is wrapped up neatly at the end. Even the teen queen, Alexia, who at the beginning of the book is trying to manipulate all the girls in the class by pitting them against each other, gives up her facade. The whole class pulls together. There is a little bit of unbelievable contrivance at the end, especially about what the kids do not know of their teacher’s condition, but I forgive the author because he has given us a sequel,  Mr Terupt Falls Again. 

The AR level is 3.7.

The Sonoma County Library has a few copies of Because of Mr Terupt and a single copy of the sequel.