Because of Mr. Terupt

Author: Rob Buyea

Publisher: Delacorte Press

Publication Year: 2010

Most of the readers will be: 4th-7th grade boys and girls.

Reader's Advisory: For another book told from multiple perspectives, read The Strange Case of Origami Yoda by Tom Angleberger. 

Summary:

Jessica, Alexia, Peter, Luke, Danielle, Anna, and Jeffrey tell the story of their fifth-grade school year with a brand-new teacher. Mr. Terupt is fun and cool. He helps new friends come together, and ends the girl wars. But some of the most important lessons he teaches his students are learned when he isn't in the classroom. 

My favorite passage:

Peter elbowed Alexia. Then I heard him whisper a word to her.
That's not even close to a dollar, I thought.
"Fifty-three," Alexia said. "No good. Try..."
Were they crazy? They were trying out rude words and giggling the whole time. I just knew they were going to get caught.
"That's no good, either," Peter said. "Maybe..."
What a butthead! As soon as I thought it, I knew it was a word worth calculating. Sure enough, butthead equaled 81. I tacked on the s. There wasn't just one butthead but two buttheads (dollar word). I was just about to call out that I had round one when Peter beat me to it.
"I've got a word!" he yelled. "Buttocks!" He strutted to the board like he was the coolest thing since sliced bread and wrote it for the class."Buttocks," he said again. "B-U-T-T-O-C-S." Peter went on to demonstrate how the word added up to a dollar. Mr. Terupt didn't interrupt. Just as I was about to, the new girl did.
"Buttocks is spelled with a k in it, Peter," Jessica said.
Peter looked to Mr. Terupt. "Sorry, Peter. She's right. Better try again. And maybe you should choose a different type of word than the ones you've been coming up with."
Peter slunk back to his seat. No surprise to me, Mr. Terupt knew what Peter was up to the whole time.
I raised my hand. "Mr. Terupt, I've got one." I walked up to the board and wrote butthead. That was followed by a chorus of laughs. "Butthead," I said. "B-U-T-T-H-E-A-D adds up to eighty-one cents, but if we have more than one, then we get buttheads. And buttheads is a dollar word. Just ask Peter and Alexia."
Mr. Terupt snickered. "That's enough, Luke. I must say, this isn't a word I was expecting, but nonetheless, it's our fist dollar word. Congratulations." (pg 9-10)

What I really think:

***SPOILERS***

I thought I knew what happened in this book before I started reading it, so when Jessica and Mr. Terupt talked about "happy endings" I thought, "Yeah, right!" But it does have a happy ending, and thank goodness! Many of the lessons the students learn would have stuck even if Mr. Terupt had died, but it is powerful and important that he has a chance to actually forgive Peter. 

I have observed that many of my students seek out novels with heavy themes. I'm glad to have a book I can recommend that should both satisfy them, and leave them feeling uplifted.