SuitabookThe Recruit
Robert Muchamore
- Reading
- Consider checking in before and during reading about the family separation, insults, violence and substance-related scenes. Afterwards, discuss whether discipline and teamwork are shown alongside adequate attention to consent, danger and consequences.
- Themes
- Discipline and personal change: James begins as undisciplined and prone to anger, then undergoes rigorous training and is described as learning control and teamwork. The reported arc presents discipline and perseverance as routes towards achievement and change.
- Children in dangerous roles: CHERUB trains children and teenagers for spy work, including demanding preparation and an overseas mission involving dangerous people. The premise makes children’s participation in covert and dangerous work central, but its moral treatment is unclear.
- Family disruption and belonging: After his mother’s death, James is separated from his half-sister and sent to a children’s home before entering CHERUB. Loss and disrupted family relationships shape James’s circumstances, but the emotional resolution is unclear.
- Worth knowing
- Pay particular attention to strong language, identity-based insults, martial-arts violence, an injured face, a violent incident involving a pigeon, drinking and a hangover, smoking, and a passionate kiss. Family separation and bereavement may also merit preparation.