While there may be kids who will enjoy reading this trial story I expected more from the reviews I'd read. I debated giving this a three because I do think Grisham did a reasonably good job helping kids better understand how trials work. But in the end I felt there wasn't enough action for this sort of book and an awful lot of telling versus showing. Teddy is a likable hero and maybe Grisham will do better by him in future books.

So, on to my problems.

First of all, Grisham needs to do a bit more research about kids today. I mean, hardly any cell phones? And then be consistent. Early on he writes that Teddy doesn't know a "single thirteen-year-old boy who admitted to having a girlfriend. Just the opposite. They wanted nothing to do with them. And the girls felt the same way. Theo had been warned that things would change, and dramatically, but that seemed unlikely." (7). What the ...? This wasn't true in my day and I'm OLDER than Grisham. Jeez. And then later in the book we learn about the most popular girl in the eighth grade and how cute she was and how she loved to flirt. Teddy goes on to help her and so forth and so on. Oh,and asthma doesn't keep my students from doing sports so Teddy not being able to do them so for that reason doesn't fly either.

I was annoyed, I must admit, by the April storyline. Seemed to disappear for long periods and felt very forced --- just a way to throw a female int the book. The whole thing seemed stiff and awkward.

A few other things I noted with distaste:
The family watching Perry Mason reruns (reruns? reruns?) at 7PM nightly. Huh?
The scary-possibly-bad-guy named Omar Cheepe -- must you use the foreign-sounding-name card in 2010?
That the kid from El Salvador who supposedly is still getting comfortable with English would say things like, "He ventured over in one of the utility carts..."

Whatever. It is getting good reviews elsewhere so who cares what I think?