Caught in the Act

November 1, 2013
Grades 4-7 In this stand-alone follow-up to The Snowball Effect (2010), good-natured 15-year-old Dylan is in bad trouble again. This time it's a two-front foible: Dylan lied to get a busboy job at a swanky local inn, and he also lied about the identities of the bullies who threw his clothes (and the clothes of his pals) into a tree while they were skinny-dipping. The latter is particularly disastrous. While they were skulking about borrowing towels from a neighbor's yard, an actual robbery was occurring in the area. So now they're suspects. Being a svelte, fast-moving book in the Orca Currents line for reluctant readers, little time is wasted meshing the two plots in a convenient though fairly unexpected way, leading up to a revelation of a very clever crime and a criminal whose identity may catch readers off guard. Dylan's use of Geez and Nuts may feel youngish to the intended audience, but otherwise, this is a solid, interesting, never-too-threatening mystery.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)

January 1, 2014
Dylan's summer job is jeopardized by some well-intentioned but illegal activities (participating in a fiery end-of-school tradition; stealing towels when a prank leaves him naked), forcing him to investigate the other thefts he's being blamed for. Despite a nifty closing twist, the thin plot is paint-by-numbers and Dylan's cluelessness and entitlement may turn readers off.

(Copyright 2014 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)