Nana’s Books: Theodore Boone, Kid Lawyer

Nana’s Books:  Theodore Boone, Kid Lawyer, by John Grisham.  Written in 2010

Reminder:  Nana’s Books are rated G.  Anyone could read them, or listen to them being read aloud.

Particulars (Out of 5):   Positive role models: *****  Alcohol or drugs: None.   Inappropriate language:  None.  Sexual references:  None.

Age:  10+

            I read this book when it first came out, and I liked it.  I just reread it, and I really liked it.  Why is that?  In large part, I think because our world has changed so much that I was really grateful for what was not in here.  Theodore Boone is a good kid, with mostly other good kids, in a good public school.  Back in 2010, the hypersexualized and politicized school environment that today’s students must deal with just didn’t exist.

That’s not to say everything is unrealistically hunky dory in the school or the town: one kid has two self-involved, squabbling, divorcing parents and has to choose which one she wants to live with.  (Neither one, actually.)  Another kid’s family has serious financial trouble and the bank is about to foreclose.  Yet another has a brother in trouble with the law.  Another has a cousin who witnessed a murder.  More on this in a minute.

            These kids come to Theo for help because he is a kid lawyer.  He doesn’t have a law degree and doesn’t charge them for his services, but he knows the law better than some adult lawyers.  He also helps because he is a genuinely good kid.  That’s another thing I appreciated:  the basic decency of the protagonist.   Theo cares about other people’s feelings.  He goes and visits his uncle (a disbarred lawyer) every week because he knows his uncle likes having him come by.  An only child, Theo cares about his parents, who are both lawyers, and knows they love him.  He empathizes with, and tries to help, the homeless people he serves every week at the soup kitchen.

            Now, you might think, “this kid sounds boring!”  He’s not!  I haven’t even gotten to the murder yet!  Theo’s Government class has seats in the courtroom for the opening arguments of a big murder trial.  Within days, Theo learns that there is not only a secret witness to the murder; there’s evidence that could convict the accused killer – who looks like he’s going to get away with killing his wife! (We don’t see the murder; we just hear about it.)

            And now we come to what John Grisham does not do.  At every possible point in this book, he resists the trite plot turn that you would find in, say, a Hallmark movie or many other, lesser, books.  The biggest example comes when Theo, who has tried to handle a huge situation by himself, asks for help.  He turns to his family when he’s got trouble.  And they drop everything to help him.

            There are at least seven books in this series.  I haven’t read the others.  But this one is a winner.  Here’s the Amazon link.  It is still in print, and at the time I’m writing this is available for $7.87 (paperback).

©Janet Farrar Worthington

Note:  I am an Amazon affiliate, so if you do click a link and buy a book, I will theoretically make a small amount of money, but I’m just starting this thing, so I don’t even know how that works.   Still, full disclosure, etc.