Author: Brent Hartinger
Genre: realistic fiction
Similar books: Don't Get Caught by Kurt Dinan
King Dork by Frank Portman
Rating:
Summary (provided by publisher): “Our parents just said we had to get summer jobs. They didn’t say *what* summer jobs!”
Dave and his two best friends, Hannah and Curtis, are looking forward to a summer of complete freedom, but their parents have another idea: they insist that the three teenagers get summer jobs.
But the friends come up with a plan: Why not invent fake jobs to get their parents off their backs? The trouble is, their parents are going to want to see them bringing in real money. And that means finding a way to get-rich-quick, but without breaking the law, and without doing any actual work.
The summer passes and Dave, Curtis, and Hannah try a long list of schemes: trying to catch bank robbers to win the reward; scientifically calculating the “correct” number of jelly beans in a contest jar; finding and exploring a network of underground smugglers' tunnels; and even diving for sunken treasure.
But “Project Pay Day” never quite goes according to plan, and they don’t make the money they need.
Soon summer is almost over, and they have no choice but to solve a big local mystery — or face the consequences of their actions, which includes their parents breaking up the trio for good!
My opinion: From the beginning, I had trouble with the details of this book. One or two details that defy logic or don't match how things work in the real world are annoying but workable. But this book is littered with them in every chapter. Like the fact that Dave and his friends calculate the total they will need based on a 40 hour work week. It's a little detail, but what teen works a 40 hour week, especially for a first job? Or the sheer number of opportunities they have to make thousands of dollars in a single scheme in a small town Contests, solving crimes, treasure hunts - they have both fantastic and terrible luck. If the characters were more complex, it could be more forgiving of such a nonsense plot but that simply isn't the case. Dave, Curtis, and Hannah have no real depth and the parents are even more one dimensional. Hard pass.
Advanced Reader Copy provided by NetGally
Is this a repackaging of Project Sweet Life? It seems similar, but it's been years since I read it. The characters in that were Dave, Curtis, and Victor. Interesting. Also, great job mending things! Just watch the soles of your shoes and make sure they aren't too worn. I try to conserve things, but don't mess around with supportive shoes.
ReplyDeleteThe shoes are just about shot. Mending the toe was mostly an experiment to see if it would work.
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