OVERRULED

An accused troublemaker gets the chance to prove his innocence at an elementary school mock trial in Wopat’s middle-grade novel.

Thomas “Mac” McGregor, on his first day of fifth grade, lands in the principal’s office for something he may or may not have done. No one at his Wisconsin school is surprised, as Mac has been getting into trouble for years (“We can’t have another school year like the last, Mr. McGregor”). Much of that stems from his anger, which he struggles to control. Some people are sympathetic, like his patient new teacher, Ms. Justus, and his best friend, Julia St. John. But others enjoy riling him up, most notably Alex, a girl Mac is convinced hates him. It’s bad enough that only he is punished for a scuffle that Alex starts; it’s considerably worse when Julia is hurt, and Alex and others point fingers at Mac. Ms. Justus turns the class into a jury trial in which his peers will decide whether this boy with the short temper is guilty of harming his best friend. Wopat’s adolescent antihero is sublimely complex: Mac claps back, steeps his sarcasm in malice, and even shoves someone; however, there’s no doubt he strives to better himself, and, more than once, he manages to calm himself. Readers only get narrator Mac’s perspective, which deftly conveys his insecurities: Is Alex really out to get Mac? Will Julia decide that Alex is her new best friend? The novel, like Ms. Justus, goes to great lengths to understand Mac, a multilayered youngster with a lot going on in his head. The author’s breezy prose helps offset Mac’s general somberness and makes his upbeat turns shine brighter. Everything leads to a mock trial that’s both revealing and entertaining; the razor-sharp student assigned to be Mac’s lawyer is a bona fide scene-stealer, and the other fifth graders are endearingly amateur jurists (someone needs index cards to explain why they’ve just objected).

This coming-of-age story tackles a serious issue with sensitivity and panache.