Strongly written and compellingly paced, this novel is a fascinating look at how justice can be done in a school setting without the use of detentions or suspensions. Still, as the week goes on, readers will question those initial opinions and learn that there is more to each of the characters than a single label. Was it the jock? The weirdo? The goody-goody? The invisible kid? The screwup? One of them has to be the culprit. Readers will quickly make assumptions about the different teens themselves. Levy’s middle-grade novel cleverly mirrors The Breakfast Club and yet also takes the format in a different direction by adding a mystery. When one more of his projects is ruined that week, he is convinced he knows the perpetrator. Still, as the end of the week nears, no one has confessed to being the vandal and Theo is getting more and more stressed. But as the Justice Circle works, the five of them discover ways to make new connections: sock puppets, yoga-ball soccer, and lots of candy. Theo is angry that he has to spend time with the people who may have ruined his photos but also scared that that person targeted him enough to also spoil his pinpoint camera project the next day. When Theo’s photographs are vandalized at school, he and five other seventh graders spend their spring break doing a Justice Circle.
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