Rob Buyea returns to his beloved MR. TERUPT series with a warm-hearted, multi-POV school story about five kids drawn together by unexpected events and one very special student teacher—a familiar face from the Mr. Terupt universe!

School is b-o-r-i-n-g, until a student teacher shakes things up!

The fifth graders in Room 202 at Baxter Elementary have a nickname for their teacher: Don’t-Care Dwyer. Since early in the school year, Mr. Dwyer has been in a funk. It’s now March and the kids are bored stiff, then student teacher Peter Jacobs lands in their classroom.

Suddenly, prankster Toby meets his match; off-the-charts smart Dakota works to overcome her shyness at speaking up; Harper, stuck in her older sister’s shadow at home, searches for something to call her own; baseball-crazy Derek grows worried that his parents are splitting up; and Lenny, who’s been biting his nails ever since he created the “big mess” that his dad won’t let him forget, wants to prove he can stand on his own two feet.

Thanks to Mr. Jacobs’ buzzing energy and the fun projects he throws at them, the classmates start to bond. Unexpected events, however, jeopardize Mr. Jacobs’ teaching future, rallying the kids—and a surprising ally—for an end-of-school year that changes each of them forever.