This summer, I've been searching for some excellent read-alouds for my 4th grade class. I picked Room One: A Mystery or Two because it hinted at being an adventurous mystery story that I hoped would capture my students' interests. The author, Andrew Clements has also written several kid-friendly and teacher-pleasing books, such as Frindle.

I was somewhat disappointed with this book. As a teacher, I found the commentary about teaching in a one room school fascinating. However, I think my students would be bored to death over the slow "small town life" drag of the book. There wasn't really much of the promised mystery, once you got past the first few chapters. Ted sees a mysterious face in an abandoned house, but he discovers quickly who it is and why this person is there and there's not much excitement, adventure, or mystery after that. Also, in comparison to previous Clement's books, the characters were pretty undeveloped and cliched. While I imagine a few of my kids might like this book, it didn't have a quick enough pace to be read-aloud or to capture the majority of my students' interest. It just didn't live up to Clement's standard as a writer.

The one thing that I do like about Clement's books, and appreciated in this one, is that he always includes some kind of ethical issues which can lead to great class discussions and teachable moments. Room One talks about trust, breaking promises, counting on others for help, honesty, responsibility, and the role of parents and community.