Because of Mr. Terupt, by Rob Buyea

Title: Because of Mr. Terupt
Author: Rob Buyea
Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers
Year: 2010
Pages: 288
Genre: Realistic Fiction
Themes: Friendship, School, Acceptance, Dealing with Tragedy, Forgiveness
Age Range: 3rd through 8th Grade

Summary:
Seven students in Mr. Terupt's fifth grade class narrate this story about the power that one special teacher can have on the lives of their students. Told in alternating perspectives, this book follows the students in Room 202 through a school year that changed them all. Mr. Terupt is the best teacher any of them has had, a teacher who sees his students for who they really are, despite the masks they put on to hide their fears, insecurities, and family tragedies. When Mr. Terupt is gravely injured in a freak accident on the playground, his students learn the true meaning of taking responsibility and forgiveness.

Review:

I realize I am late to this party, but this book! I basically read it in one sitting, and I gave it a very rare five star review on Goodreads. As a teacher, I'm a sucker for inspirational teacher stories. Especially in the current school reform climate, I need as many reminders as possible as to why I chose this profession. To be honest, I feel like this profession chose me, and while I wouldn't say that I am quite as special as the fictional Mr. Terupt, I try my best every day to be as special as possible. Mr. Terupt's ability to see through the attitudes and behaviors of his students into the very things that made them tick is a gift that not all teacher have.

I was concerned that seven shifting perspectives might be too disjointed, but each student narrator is so perfectly written that I didn't even have to look at the name on the first page of each chapter to know who was speaking. I've been an educator for over twenty years, and in that time I have known students EXACTLY like the fictional students in this book. The brainiacs, the popular girls, the bookworms, the jokesters, and the kids who pretend not to care-I've dealt with them all. Any child who picks up this book is going to see themselves in at least one of the characters-I certainly did (Jessica, in case you're wondering). I can't imagine any student reading this book that won't get swept up in the emotions of it-these kids articulate common childhood feelings and experiences in a way that may help the children who read it figure out how to explain their own truths.

I've had a few days where I ended up crying at my desk over the year, and usually those were the bad days, the sad days. Today, as I closed the cover on the last page of Because of Mr. Terupt, I had tears streaming down my face for the best of reasons-because a book so moved me that I was swept away, not just reading a story, but living it.

Teacher Resources:

Bookrags Novel Unit
Kids Wings Activities
Discussion Questions from Conversation Pieces

11 Birthdays, by Wendy Mass

Title:  11 Birthdays
Author:  Wendy Mass
Publisher:  Scholastic
Year:  2009
Pages:  267
Genre:  Fantasy, Magical Realism
Themes:  Friendship, Family, Forgiveness
Age Range:  3th-6th Grade


Summary:  (from Goodreads)
It's Amanda's 11th birthday and she is super excited -- after all, 11 is so different from 10. But from the start, everything goes wrong. The worst part of it all is that she and her best friend, Leo, with whom she's shared every birthday, are on the outs and this will be the first birthday they haven't shared together. When Amanda turns in for the night, glad to have her birthday behind her, she wakes up happy for a new day. Or is it? Her birthday seems to be repeating iself. What is going on?! And how can she fix it? Only time, friendship, and a little luck will tell. 


Review:
11 Birthdays is Groundhog Day for the upper elementary set.  Amanda is doomed to repeat her birthday until she figures out what good deed she must make or important action she must take to move on in her life.  This is my first time reading a book by Wendy Mass, and I was impressed with how real Amanda and Leo seemed.  Mass seems to really understand (remember?) what it is like to be 10 going on 11, when you're getting closer to being a teenager and you start worrying about what's cool, who's popular, and who likes who-you know, likes likes...


One of the things that I really like about this book is that it portrays a friendship between a boy and a girl that is deep and abiding, without any hint of romantic attachment.  Amanda doesn't suddenly realize how cute Leo is.  Leo doesn't start blushing fiercely whenever Amanda is around and mumbling.  The friendship feels balanced, with each half having equal power in the relationship.  As a fifth grade teacher, I've noticed how much earlier children are falling into the whole boy/girl (or boy/boy or girl/girl) thing, and I appreciate that Mass shows her readers that it is possible and rewarding to have friends of the opposite gender without romantic overtones.


Mass gives readers plenty to think about with this story.  What is the true nature of forgiveness?  How do you make amends for things that you have done?  How do you balance things you do for other people with things that you do for yourself?  Amanda and Leo struggle with all of these questions through the course of the novel, and I think that this title would be a good one to add to any reading program.


Teacher Resources:
Scholastic Book Talk
Kid's Wings Unit
Kids Book Club Activities