Theodore Boone: Kid Lawyer book review

Theodore Boone: Kid Lawyer by John Grisham, Richard Thomas
Published by Listening Library (Audio) on May 25, 2010
Pages: 4
Goodreads

A perfect murder. A faceless witness. A lone courtroom champion knows the whole truth . . . and he’s only thirteen years old. Meet Theodore Boone

In the small city of Strattenburg, there are many lawyers, and though he’s only thirteen years old, Theo Boone thinks he’s one of them. Theo knows every judge, policeman, court clerk—and a lot about the law. He dreams of being a great trial lawyer, of a life in the courtroom.

But Theo finds himself in court much sooner than expected. Because he knows so much—maybe too much—he is suddenly dragged into the middle of a sensational murder trial. A cold-blooded killer is about to go free, and only Theo knows the truth.

The stakes are high, but Theo won’t stop until justice is served.

Brimming with the intrigue and suspense that made John Grisham a #1 international bestseller and the undisputed master of the legal thriller, Theodore Boone: Kid Lawyer will keep readers guessing and pages turning.

I know that this book was aimed at younger audiences and you can definitely tell. I really enjoyed reading Theodore Boone: Kid Lawyer and I think although it is crime based there is a definite lack of action and more technicality. I was really surprised to say that I really enjoyed that aspect of the story but could see a few issues with having younger people reading it and having to wrap their head around the issues that come with a murder trial. I also thought that some of the language was a little old for thirteen, dealing with themes that were definitely older in thought than I was expecting. Like I said, I really enjoyed the story and reading about the trial but then I am significantly older than the intended audience.

This book centres around Theodore Boone, who is a thirteen year old prodigy who gives out free legal advice to the kids in his schools. I definitely enjoyed the concept and I think that it is a really cool concept to have a kid that is so involved and so passionate about something. It was also really interesting to have a healthy parent and child dynamic that runs through the entire book. There were also some interesting secondary characters introduced but I did think that there was a high number of people with a lot of issues, and I wasn’t sure whether the adults in Theodore Boone: Kid Lawyer should have been putting so much pressure on him as a 13 year old boy.

I think the best bits of Theodore Boone: Kid Lawyer would definitely be learning about the trial and the inner workings of trial and the lawyers. I thought that it offered some really great insight into how wrong TV has it and how things are completely different, however that is not to say that everything in this book is a 100% realistic. This book is a really interesting concept for a young teen book, and I was really impressed that a book that targeted a younger audience dealt with such great amount of detail and it doesn’t shy away from that which some books do.

I will say that the idea that Theodore Boone, a thirteen year old was giving out legal advice was a little far fetched. Also I thought that he was too perfect, I would have preferred to have him failing school because he was so into the different trials and legal jargon. I think that would have been a lot more believable than him being perfect at everything, it would have made Theodore Boone: Kid Lawyer a better book.

I do think I would recommend Theodore Boone: Kid Lawyer, I really enjoyed reading it even though it was meant for a younger audience. There was a great amount of detail and it was completely different to anything I have read in that age bracket.

Have you read any of this series? Do they get better? I have some other of John Grisham’s books on my TBR so I’m excited to jump into those.