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Title: Saving Mr. Terupt (Mr. Terupt, #3)
Author: Rob Buyea
Published By: Delacorte Books for Young Readers (2015)
Synopsis:
The kids from Mr. Terupt’s fifth- and sixth-grade classes are entering their first year of junior high school. There’s a lot to be excited about, but there are new challenges, too. Peter and Jeffrey face tough competition on their wrestling team. Alexiahas a disastrous first day of school, and that’s only the beginning. Anna is desperate for Charlie to propose to her mother—what is he waiting for?! Danielle isn’t feeling so well, but she’s trying to tough it out, like Grandma. Trouble with a bully makes Luke dread going to school for the first time ever.And Jessica is waiting anxiously for an acceptance to a theater retreat in New York City.
Everyone is missing Mr. Terupt. When a fight threatens to break up the group forever, they think their favorite teacher is the only one who can help them. But the kids soon find out that it’s Mr. Terupt who needs saving. (Taken from Goodreads)
Review:
This book was okay. While it had decent writing and lovable characters, a semi-interesting premise and a good ending, there were certain elements made me lower my rating.
First of all, I did not appreciate the way that it talked about personal girl stuff and personal boy things. I felt it was wrote in as just part of life, rather than a part of the plot, and I found it kind of pointless. Considering it’s a juvenile book, I would have liked it a lot better had it not delved into personal, more intimate matters. It didn’t get inappropriate, but the beginning was strange; while it’s not something I thought wrong to read, it’s things I’d prefer not to read about in juvenile fiction.
Secondly, I hated the way the author portrayed Christianity. I don’t this to come off the wrong way, so I’ll keep it short. To me, it felt like, in certain scenes, that the author was trying to portray Christians as naive and oblivious to the world around them, and that you should rely on people rather than God. Characters pray a lot and go to church, but there’s never any scenes where anyone realizes it’s God that helped them, like I’d been thinking maybe there would. It’s just an aspect to the story, the same way maybe Danielle’s diabetes is just an aspect to the story, and it didn’t really matter in the end. I disliked that on so many levels.
Anyway, this book just didn’t pay off for me. It answered questions and the characters, easy to love, had a happy little ending. So the majority of people will probably love this book. But for me, it was too mature in some areas, and too naive in others. Additionally, the whole plotline was kind of pointless and felt forced, like the author needed a story for his fans and quickly came up with this plotline without really thinking it through. It was predictable and overall just disappointing.
Negative Content/Notes:
None.
Rating: 2.5
Recommended to: Not recommended.