Terry Trueman Books

This book was one of the best books I have ever read. Jordan starts out as a very depressed kid. His dad committed suicide and he thought it was his entire fault. The setting of the book is mainly his school and neighborhood. Also a few specific roads in the town. It takes place in present time. Then, a few years later, his mom meets this guy...Don Luger. And he just happens to own a 76' corvette stingray. Jordan was never a fan of cars, but as soon as Don takes him for a ride and goes 110 mph he realizes that he needs to feel that rush again. He says that it is the first time everything felt like it was going to be okay after his dad dies. So when Don goes out of town, he steals the car. He loves it and he starts doing it more and more. And this one time he meets this girl, Becka Thorson, who is drawn in by the car. They start going out. And it's off and on relationship.

Jordan eventually gets caught stealing the car. This book has a somewhat abrupt ending. Now that doesn't mean it's a bad ending. I love the ending. It makes you think a little. I recommend this book to people who like cars, well actually anybody who likes a book that you can't put down. I recommend this book to these people because it's just a great book that you wont regret reading and it's defiantly worth owning. Terry Trueman is a great author. This book has drama, action, and even some adventure. It's a must read. I give No Right Turn five stars. Thank you for reading my review on No Right Turn by Terry Trueman.

It isn't that our children can not read, but that until an author writes a book that CAN'T BE PUT DOWN, they don't know that they love to read. Terry Trueman is one of the best authors I have to offer these students. Mr.Trueman gives us an opportunity to know what it might be like to have or to love someone who has a disability. His book, Inside Out is incredable. No Right Turn is just another outstanding example. THANK YOU TERRY TRUEMAN.

Terry Trueman is a friend of mine. I read No Right Turn in its infancy. Jordan and his angst are real and right on. The twists and turns are all authentic. This book is Terry Trueman. Look at his penchant for fast automobiles and anyone could picture his own '76 Corvette roaring around Spokane, his home town.

Terry was Jordan, a very long time ago. But Terry's fertile mind is in a place where Jordan has developed and Jordan's quandry is now able to find voice, dealing with fears and desires of all young tees.

Terry is a wonderful pervayor of teen angst. He has lived it for quite awhile. Once again, Terry has touched the teen soul, and in doing so, has touched his own. We all know Jordan and root for his deliverance.

Brave novel, brilliant mind, dashed with reality.

When Jordan came home from school one afternoon, he and his dad had a conversation that was puzzling. Why was his dad apologizing? Later, when he heard the gunshot, Jordan knew that his father had killed himself. He still ran down and attempted CPR, but could not save him.

Three years later, Jordan is 16 and still trying to avoid thinking about that terrible day. Everyone but him seems to be moving on. He's become totally numb, with no friends except the somewhat strange Wally, no sports, and no one to talk to. His mother is starting to date again, a neighbor named Don with a really cool Corvette.

The car starts bringing Jordan back to life. First he helps Don with the constant maintenance and polishing it requires, and then they take it to an auto show. The next thing Jordan knows, he's planning to steal the vehicle on the nights when Don isn't home. On his first trip out, he helps Becka, a gorgeous cheerleader who loves "his" car. Author Terry Trueman describes the car and its rides so well that readers will feel like they're right there; even non-gearheads will appreciate this fine automobile.

But soon it becomes easy for Jordan to take it out all the time. He realizes that the thrill he has while speeding around road curves is the first emotion he's experienced in three years. And now the feelings he has for Becka, as they see more of each other, really help him come alive again. He just doesn't know if Becka likes him for himself or for his cool ride.

There is a price for these thrills, and eventually Jordan has to pay it. But getting caught may be just what he needs to help him start recovering from the shock of finding his lifeless father.

NO RIGHT TURN is intense and fast-paced, and just like with Trueman's previous titles, STUCK IN NEUTRAL and CRUISE CONTROL, readers will be left thinking about the main protagonist for a long time.

--- Reviewed by Amy Alessio

Anyone who knows me knows how much I love Terry Trueman's books, so I won't waste time praising his virtues. Although come to think of it, he might appreciate that. Still, the story of sixteen-year old Jordan, the main character of NO RIGHT TURN, should hopefully be praise enough.

Suicide is never pretty. But when you're a teen, and the last thing your father says to you before he shoots himself is "it's all such bull***t," suicide becomes something bigger than a simple death. It's the thing you think about all the time, and yet never talk about. You wonder, almost constantly, why your father would apologize, then take himself out of your life forever. You wonder which part of life was bull***t--the fact that he was married to your mother?; that he had you as a son?; that his life was boring and predictable with a job and bills and a family to weigh him down?

Several years later, Jordan still doesn't have any answers. All he knows is that his dad is dead, and by his own hand, and that there's no joy in his life. Actually, Jordan doesn't have much of a life at all. All of that changes, though, when his mom starts dating Don Lugar, a guy who owns something that Jordan suddenly can't live without--a 1976 Corvette, a Stingray with a custom paint job, tinted windows, big tires, and a cool canister of nitrous that will really make that baby go.

The first time he goes for a ride in the 'Vette with Don, Jordan realizes that going 110 mph in that car is the first time in a very long while that he can remember feeling alive. The first time, in fact, that he doesn't feel like a walking zombie. So Jordan comes up with the brilliant idea of taking the 'Vette for a drive--by himself--one Wednesday night when Don is out of town. Just one time, one drive by himself, is all he needs to recapture that feeling of being part of the world.

But one time isn't enough, of course, and it doesn't help matters when he meets cheerleader Becka Thorson, one of the most popular girls in school, during one of his clandestine drives. Now the girl of his dreams thinks he's some cool guy with a custom 'Vette, and Jordan's desperate to keep up the image he's created. Once wasn't enough with the car, and he doesn't know what will have to happen to come clean to Becka--and to Don and his mother.

NO RIGHT TURN is another winer from Terry Trueman. Heartfelt, emotional, and full of true-to-life characters, this is a story for anyone who has ever felt like their world has been turned upside down--and for those who don't know how to put it back right-side-up. Definitely a recommended read.

I was checking out a critique I did for America the Babylon on Amazon recently and thought I would also see what kinds of books Terry has written lately. I was pleasantly surprised to find his poem Sheehan on Amazon's book list. I have not only read Sheehan several times but I also took every one of Terry's English classes at the community college where he teaches and have heard him read Sheehan several times. My copy was destroyed in a fire so I'm having to do this critique from memory.

Terry's guidelines for a good story/poem in his English classes were as follows: Show your spirit, your heart, and your brain; dig to the depths of your soul until it hurts but get your feeling down on paper; force the reader to experience what you've been through; help them to hear what you heard and see what you saw; and to experience your senses. It's your story, write it the way you feel--as if you're never going to show it to anyone else--you can always take it out later. And last but not least--truth is better than facts. Terry's poem Sheehan encompasses all of the above because this author practices what he preaches.

The thing I liked most about this poem is the immense love that this person in the poem has for Sheehan, his son, and how he dealt with an enormous heartbreak that splintered his hopes and dreams for this child. This poem relays the struggle it took for him to finally come to grips with the facts, accept what is, and move forward with his life. It shows how one man weathered an enormous trial through being honest with himself, admitting his fears, and conquering a desire for revenge on others as well as himself. I think it is this person's vulnerability and honesty that grabs you by the heart and draws you into the story. You cannot NOT have strong empathy for the person in this poem, because this story relays the struggles a lot of us can relate to.

The strong visual imagery of this poem is enhanced by the artwork which adequately portrays what your heart will be feeling as you read this book--if it were possible to draw feelings. If you can read this poem without your heart jumping in a thousand different directions then you're a prime target for a heart transplant. I recommend you buy the booklet and then go to Spokane and listen to Terry read the poem in person. I give it a 4.0 And no, he didn't pay me to write this critique--I haven't talked to him for about 5 years. (E)LE

Tripping Over the Lunch Lady has received the following honors:
Read Aloud America Recommended List 2006
Pennsylvania School Librarians "Top Forty" List 2005
IRA/CBC Children's Choice Book 2005

I couldn't put the book down. It's horrible. I'm sorry the book - and, aparently, Shawn's life - are so short.

The book is powerful because of all the here-and-now details: the fly crawling on Shawn's face and he can't do anything to stop it; the taste of the bbq-flavored potato chip Shawn's brother slips into his mouth; the vivid descriptions of what it's like to experience a seizure.

A short, powerful book.

This is the best suspense novel I have ever read! I couldn't put it down. Author, Terry Trueman, is brilliant!

Terry Trueman's Stuck In Neutral was inspired by his son Sheehan, who has cerebral palsy, is not able to communicate, and has been labeled profoundly developmentally disabled. Trueman recently penned Sheehan: Heartbreak and Redemption, about his own personal struggle with his son's severe cerebral palsy that inspired Stuck in Neutral. Trueman's protagonist Shawn McDaniel is in much the same boat; he's unable to communicate or control any of his muscles, including his eyes, and even his family has chalked him up as profoundly retarded.

But Stuck in Neutral, told from Shawn's point of view, reveals a witty narrator with a photographic memory and a zest for life, even if he's not able to communicate it to his family. There's not a trace of self-pity, even though he's at the mercy of family and caretakers for everything from feeding to bathrooming, and he's in a class of profoundly retarded classmates. The plot revolves around the suspicion that Shawn's father is planning to kill him out of "mercy" for Shawn's suffering and his ever-present seizures.

The binding link that weaves throughout the story centers on his father's poem about young Shawn that won numerous awards including the Pulitzer. Now his father, who deserted the family years ago, is a celebrity for his poem that presents Shawn as a helpless, pitiable object, not the funny, smart teenager that he's become, if only in his head, and his father seems inspired by a recent "mercy killing" of another handicapped child.

Trueman does a masterful job of leaving the ending open (he penned a novel written from Shawn's brother Paul's perspective, Cruise Control, that explores Paul's feelings towards his brother and his situation, which is also open-ended in its final decision), and Shawn is an utterly hip, real narrator that shows us how easy (and dangerous) it is to judge someone based on appearances.

Go ahead and shell out 7 bucks and see what it's like to be on the other side...I dare you.

Stuck in neutral is about a fourteen year old boy named Shawn who has cerebral palsy. his father want's to kill him, and he has no way to warn his family because he can't talk or move. The other porblem is that Shawn has seizures. His older brother, Paul, has a bad relationship with his father becasue he left them when Paul and his little siblings were little. Shawn feels like he's putting strain on the family and that he has hurt everyone. But at the end of the book he has another seizure and then you don't know what happens.

I was a bit iffy about reading "Cruise Control" at first. This is because it was the same concept as "Stuck In Neutral," but this one being from the perspective of Shawn McDaniel's older brother Paul. I don't know why I was iffy, but my insecurity was groundless.

"Cruise Control" was very sad. There were two parts that really got to me, and that's when Paul first feels a true affection for Shawn, and the second being the truth about what happened when those two bullies were burning Shawn on the porch. The latter parts, especially the last of the two, still are grabbing at my heart. They are just so sad!

This one made me cry more than the first one. It was very, very touching. It was also very cool to see a book from two different perspectives, especially from a character who, in the first book, we didn't see many aspects of affection towards Shawn, so it was very good.

This one wasn't as much in mini vignettes as "Stuck In Neutral," but it was still a very touching, gripping tale of love and affection. If you loved "Stuck In Neutral," then you'll love "Cruise Control." It's another must-read!

The thing I liked most about this book is that it gets the first person male narration of a senior in high school pretty spot on. Paul is a highly successful athlete and scholar in his last year in high school, but is constantly brimming with a pressure-cooker full of rage. He's angry at his father, at people who try to get too close to him, and at the unfairness of life. Most of all, though, he's angry at himself and his confused feelings he feels towards his fourteen-year-old brother who is a "veg", as Paul describes him.

Many boys will enjoy this book because of the tone of the narration, but also because of the sports story and buzzer-beater ending. While there are some occasional 4-letter words (hello? as I said, he IS a senior in high school), I will recommend this probably to some select kids in my middle school classroom.

This is a good book. It is abut a kid that has Cerebral Palsy and he can't control anything he does. He thinks his dad is out to kill his little brother, Shawn. Paul is in the 11th grade and is the starting quarter back for the high school. He is like the main jock of the school. He is very good at basketball, too. During practice he made a quarter-court shot and they didn't have to run ball breakers, which are sprints up and down the gym. Overall this was a good book and I recommend it to you. You will know how it is to have a little brother with Cerebral Palsy after you read this book.

I thought this was a very good book. It really got in Paul's head. It has a very emotional begining and ending but it really draws you in. Terry Trueman knows how to write books in the first person. I really enjoy her style of writing. I loved how Paul finally said to Shawn, his brother, how he really did love him.

In Cruise Control, Paul talks about how his brother has Cp, and how people treat him. Paul is a very athletic person. He hates his dad because he left his family but he finds out that his mom told him to leave. He finally follows his dreams and gets into college.
Cruise Control was a good book. Paul, Shawns brother actually cares for him because he beats up people that make fun of him. It was good because at first he thinks his dad is trying to kill his brother. I like it because he follows his dreams and gets into college.

Well I have to say this was a pretty good book. I actually cried some. But,thats just me, Still I highly recomend this book.

With HURRICANE, author Terry Trueman brings to life in vivid detail the almost complete devastation of 1998's Hurricane Mitch on Honduras.

In the tiny village of La Rupa, there are only a handful of homes. One of those, at one end of town, is the house of Jose and his family: his mother and father, older brother and sister Victor and Ruby, and younger siblings Maria, Angela, and Juan. There is also their dog, Berti, who can sometimes be persuaded to do more than lie around in the sun.

La Rupa is the type of place where everyone knows one another; there is no way to avoid it, since the village is so small. Jose, who attends school at the bilingual International School in nearby San Pedro Sula, is pretty much the only person in the town who can speak both Spanish and English fluently.

In September 1998, La Rupa literally comes to a standstill when Hurricane Mitch destroys the town. After a deadly mudslide, the fifty-plus population of La Rupa is chillingly reduced to only a little over twenty. And Jose's father, brother Victor, and sister Ruby are missing, having been on the road traveling when the Hurricane hit.

In this vivid and fast-paced narrative, Mr. Trueman takes us through the days immediately following Mitch's destruction. As a lack of food and water begins to haunt the survivors, Jose is part of a group who must search the nearby trucha for supplies. And when little Juan falls ill, it is again up to the teenage Jose to venture out into the mud and muck to attempt to make his way to San Pedro Sula to find help.

HURRICANE is a vivid, fast-moving story that even younger readers will find themselves immersed in, as they struggle right along with Jose in learning to survive with next to nothing. The emotions he feels, as he worries about his family's fate, both those missing and still at home, will grip readers of all ages.

The author's note at the end of the book states that more than 5,000 people were initially killed in Honduras during the Hurricane. In the months that followed, bodies of the more than 8,000 missing individuals were also found. Even now, in 2008, the clean-up and recovery period in Honduras is still ongoing. This is one book that brings to life a plight of many that most of us never even knew about.

Reviewed by: Jennifer Wardrip, aka "The Genius"

I was very excited to read "Inside Out" based on Terry Trueman's two other books. I very much enjoyed this one as much as the other two, "Cruise Control" and "Stuck In Neutral."

"Inside Out" is the tale of two teenagers, Alan (Frosty) and Joey (Stormy) who attempt to rob the coffee shop where Zach, a sixteen-year-old scizhophrenic is waiting for his mom. The two robbers, who have robbed the store to help their cancerous mother who has very pricey medication, find themselves in trouble when the police arrive before they can escape.

The characters were very well developed, even those who had a miniscule three to four lines, such as the fat suit, a heavier man of the nine hostages. I also enjoyed the dialogue. Silly as some of the things said might have been, it was very enjoyable.

I especially liked the part where Zach, out of his own control, almost accidentally blurts out something to his doctor, who was called to the scene of the hostage situation by Zach, with the policemen possibly able to hear. It was very suspenseful.

Also, when Zach and the robbers are about to make their escape, and the two characters, Dirtbag and Rat are haunting Zach, the description Terry Trueman gives is very eerie and disturbing. Afterwards, it's very, very suspenseful.

"Inside Out" is a very quick read (I finished it today, started it today), but it is a very riveting and very suspensefully humurous tale. It is a definite must-read for those of you who enjoyed Terry Trueman's first books.

My son thought this book was great. He especially enjoyed all the swearing.

Terry Trueman's 117-page YA novel, INSIDE OUT, is a good idea in that it seeks to show young readers what the inside of a teenaged schizophrenic's mind might feel like; the bad idea is the vehicle he chooses to show it with -- an unrealistic hold-up of a coffee shop by 17 and 14-year-old brothers who just want to help their cancer-stricken mother with money.

In the fiction business, the term "suspension of disbelief" has to do with the reader's willingness to go along with the situation provided by the author, to give the fiction writer the benefit of the doubt if he pushes it a bit in the realism department. Trueman probably goes too far here, as the two kids seem too young and too nice to hold up a coffee joint (of all places) to "do good" for their dying mother.

Getting past that, the book is entertaining and interesting for its dialogue and insight into the brain of people tortured by the voices of such mental illnesses as schizophrenia. Zach seems nonplussed by all the gun brandishing of brothers Alan (a.k.a. "Frosty") and Joey (a.k.a. "Stormy). He just doesn't get it. And his steady stream of non sequiturs comes across as funny, only they're (of course) not.

Throughout the hostage situation we get to know the "criminals" a bit. Older brother Alan is a sympathetic sort who shows genuine compassion for Zach. Younger brother Joey is more of a hot-headed type -- the sort of kid who frequently refers to Zach as a "retard" (a term Zach is very familiar with from school).

The novella has its share of profanity, but it only lends a realistic touch to the dialogue in such a situation. High marks go to INSIDE OUT for shedding some light on a medical condition few young readers know about. Like Mark Haddon's more ambitious THE CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE DOG IN THE NIGHT-TIME, Trueman's book provides a point of view seldom seen and thus much in need. It's too bad some readers will be put off by the "This could never happen with THESE characters in REAL life..." aspect of the plot.

Trueman does an excellent job showing the world through the eyes of a boy with schizophrenia while simultaneously allowing the reader to see how his illness affects his thinking process and, in turn, his actions. Trueman takes his readers to a place they have never, and hopefully will never, be. It gives the reader a greater sensitivity to mental illness and its effects.

I didn't so much, "enjoy," this book as I truly appreciated it. I wouldn't say it was a fun read, - the tone was to serious for, "fun," - but it is absolutely a good read.

Very good.

It's a quick read, only about a hour. It's fast paced so reluctant teen readers will probably finish it. I think the author did a good job making Zach likable and someone to have sympathy for having this horrible mental illness. I found myself just as interested or more so in Alan, the kindly older thief. I didn't want him tried as an adult since what he really wanted to do is help his mother buy medicine she needed. I wonder if Alan taken away the attention from the main character since Alan in some ways more interesting than Zach.

Our education system always talks the talk of "celebrating diversity," but we are pummeled by political correctness any time we acknowledge any differences.

Michael Gurian does an exellent job presenting a lot of heavy medical and scientific research about brain differences between boys and girls. Different does not mean "inferior," and Gurian does well to present the facts about gender differences in a way that is both easy to understand and is scientific enough to combat the political correctness that is trying (unsuccessfully) to turn the US into a genderless society.

If your son's teacher cannot handle "boy energy" and wants to to drug him into submission, you really need to read this book first. Afterwards, you will probably want to give a copy to your boy's teacher.

We need to stop worrying about offending people with talk of the differences of the genders and embrace what we are seeing and (what studies are showing). If we wonder why kids are having so much trouble we need to look at what we are doing to them and embrace the reality rather than deny the fact that we are wired differently. This is filled with critical information and ways to help our kids. I want to do the best for my son and daughter and I thank Michael Gurian for this book.

Raising our grandson now 10 years old is a challenge anyway but as a gifted child is even more demanding. The book information helps us undestand the heightened behavior displayed because he is a boy - an athletic and smart boy that at age 10 has a good handle on the real world.
Thanks for the book!

I found 'Boys and Girls Learn Differently" to be a useful and fascinating introduction to the general strengths and weaknesses of males and females in the classroom.

Some reviewers may laugh or poke fun at the relatively old ideas that he is presenting as new in the areas of male/female brain differences. These may be old ideas in the biology lab, but someone needs to walk over to the schools of education across the country because the 'tabla rasa' theory (the mind is a blank slate and gender differences are entirely a product of culture, not nature) is alive and still kicking hard.

The only complaint I have is that Gurian refers a lot to seminars and ongoing experiments in school designs that will be helpful in teaching to the strengths and weaknesses of girls and boys. However, he comes up a bit short in providing concrete examples of how to help both boys and girls.

I am an educator at a school that separates the genders beginning at the 4th grade level. I have always know instinctively that girls and boys learn differently, and I strongly believe after working at this school for over 3 years that it is the way education should be. Many years ago these kinds of schools were common, but for whatever reason we have gotten away from that structure. The book points out many important biological difference that explains a lot to me about why both genders act the way they do in the classroom.
I would highly recommend this book to any educator who is interested in tapping into the potential that each gender has to offer, or even to answer the age old question of why men and women are so different! I would also recommend "Why Gender Matters" by Sax. It is just as enlightening!

7 DAYS AT THE HOT CORNER
by Terry Trueman
(Harper Tempest, February 2007, $15.99 Hardcover)

Scott Latimer lives for baseball. The high school senior plays third base (known in baseball jargon as the "hot corner") for his undefeated school team, and has dreams of playing professionally after he graduates. His best friend, since age seven, is Travis Adams, who helped comfort him when his parents got a divorce.

Scott's life seems to be placed on hold, when Travis moves in with Scott and his dad, following his being thrown out of his home because he is gay. It's rather unsettling news to Scott as well, since he always assumed Travis was straight and had never been told otherwise. He also remembers an incident in which Travis bled badly after a batting-cage accident, and Scott now wonders if Travis may have had unsafe sex and passed HIV on to him. He withdraws emotionally and physically from his friend, and decides to get tested, then goes through an agonizing seven days waiting for the test results. Travis decides to "come out" in an anonymous interview in the school paper, and Scott is also worried that his friends will figure out it is Travis, and perhaps assume that Scott is gay as well (which even Travis' mom assumed, since they were so close.)

An excellent, non-stereotypical and realistic story, especially recommended for teen readers. A bit short (runs 160 pages, but printed in relatively big type on small pages, which likely stretched it by 50% over what it would be in "normal" formats), but well-written and covers all of the bases (pun intended). Excellent selection for a gay teen to give as a gift to a straight buddy who may have problems dealing with his coming-out, and also debunks some common (even this long into the epidemic) myths about how the AIDS virus is transmitted. A definite "home run" (Last one, I promise! :) and I give it five stars out of five.

While this may be a great book, I have not read it in it's entirety, please beware of purchasing this book for anyone younger than high school.
It says, 6th grade and up, or age 12 and up but the material may be more suitable for a high school student rather than elementary!
My son, who is in 4th grade, is an active reader and can read beyond his grade level. My mother bought him this book along with many other books and did not realize how mature this book was. Personally, I don't think 4th graders, or anyone under a high school grade, should be reading a book that deals with homosexuality, AIDS, safe sex and so on. My son is 9.

I believe in fredom of speech and I'm glad that there are novels that deal with those issues. My only wish would be that the author would have geared it toward a more mature audience.

Obviously, I need to CLOSELY examine the books my son is given to read before I allow him to do so.

"The hot corner." In baseball, it's third base. So named because of the fact that you always have to be ready for anything, and no one knows it better than eighteen-year-old Scott Latimer.

Scott is the starting third baseman on Thompson High School's varsity baseball team. The Spokane All-City High School Tournament is coming up in a matter of days, so of course Scott is worried about how he'll handle himself on "the hot corner."

The only problem is that, as life has a way of doing, things in his personal life are a little messed up at the moment. His best friend, Travis, was recently kicked out of his house by his parents and has been staying with Scott and his dad. And that was fine, until Travis handed him a copy of the school newspaper, which contained an article entitled "Coming Out."

Now "the hot corner" isn't just on the baseball field, but everywhere Scott looks. He doesn't know what to do about his friendship with Travis. He especially doesn't know how to handle some of the things Travis has said to him, such as the fact that Scott has issues with being the son of divorced parents. During these next seven days, it's up to Scott to figure out how to make things right again -- both on the field and off of it.

Again, author Terry Trueman has taken a well-drawn character and put him into a realistic situation. This is another great read from one of my favorite authors, and I can guarantee you won't go wrong by picking up a copy.

Reviewed by: Jennifer Wardrip, aka "The Genius"