Room One

langston_p - I really loved this book. It's about a kid named Ted who lives in a really tiny town. Lots of people are moving out and this means that the school now has only one room and only 9 students. Some people want to shut down the school but they can't do it until next year, which scares Ted and his teacher, Mrs. Mitchell. But one day, he discovers a family of 3 living in an abandoned house, and they are scared that the police will capture them and take them away, so they are hiding. Ted decides to keep it a secret and help them, and changes his city forever. It was a really good book and I really enjoyed reading it. It was really interesting and I thought the characters were really interesting, especially Ted.

Starred review from June 12, 2006
Clements (Frindle
) introduces 12-year-old Ted, a likable lad who reads multiple mysteries each week—and insists on solving each midway through the book. (Then he reads the second half to see if he was right.) But now the Nebraska boy finds himself surrounded by real-life mysteries. "It's a mystery to me," says his father, wondering how the family will keep the farm if the price of beef continues to drop and the price of fuel keeps rising. And how can Ted's school (which has only nine students in a single room) survive, given the town's shrinking population ("if the school died, the town died too")? The newest mystery plaguing Ted concerns a face he sees in the window of a deserted farmhouse while on his morning paper route. The aspiring detective decides that this is one mystery he intends to solve on his own. Clements threads some authentic, topical themes into the meaning behind the face in the window (concerning the family of a soldier who died fighting in Iraq), and Ted demonstrates not only his intelligence but his compassion as he helps the family in distress, plus the challenges of keeping the family's presence secret in such a small town. Like every good mystery, this one has an unexpected conclusion. Once again Clements captures real people and real issues, as he shapes another fine work of fiction. Ages 8-12.