© 2013 New York, Dutton Children’s Books
This is the best Theo Boone yet!
There now that the blurb is out of the way, you’ll want to
run down to the local library or bookstore and obtain a copy of this little YA
gem.
This time, Theo puts his debate team skills to not only
defeat his opponents from the cross-town rival team, but to try to help save
his friend’s family farm. It seems that all the politicians in the state and
the businesses in the county want to push through a by-pass project which will
displace a number of families on the outskirts of town at a cost of multiple
million dollars while schools are getting shorted in the funding department.
Theo learns some valuable lessons about activism and ethics
as he works through his case this time.
This is some of the better writing involved in the Theodore
Boone series (see opening sentence above). It is one of the very best examples
of internal struggle available on the current market. The moments where our
protagonist wrestles with what is right, wrong, and just are on a par with FrankStockton’s classic short story “The Lady, or the Tiger?”
I can’t hold back my five reading glasses for this excellent
example of juvenile suspense.
—Benjamin Potter,
September 6, 2013
