swindle

Swindle by Gordon Korman Review

January 17, 2014 by Daniel Johnston 8 Comments

Swindle by Gordon Korman has become a modern classic. I was in fifth grade in 2008 when it first came out, and Gordon Korman was coming to visit my school! In preparation, our librarian had us read some books by Gordon Korman, and I was instantly hooked!

The common refrain of kids about Swindle is, “I finished it in three days!” Well, guess what; I finished Swindle the very night I got it! By the time Gordon Korman came to my school, everyone was in love with him, and tons of kids I know have read it.
Swindle has sold millions of copies and spawned follow-up books Zoobreak, Framed, Showoff, and Hideout. It has also been adapted into a movie by Nickelodeon (which I thought was rather subpar, especially compared to the book, by the way). So why is Swindle so popular? What makes this one of the best-selling kids books of recent times?

Also check out the video trailer on Scholastic’s website. It’s quite well done.

Summary

Swindle starts off with the main character Griffin Bing and his best friend, Ben Slovak, camping out in an old abandoned mansion. It was going to get knocked down the next morning, and Griffin had come up with a plan to protest by having some of his fellow seventh-graders camp out with him at the building.Tons of people said they were going to show up, but ultimately, he and Ben were left alone.

While exploring the house, Griffin finds a 1920 Babe Ruth baseball card. His father is an inventor who has fallen on tough times recently, and his family is facing the possibility of having to move away. Griffin is greatly upset by this. He doesn’t want to be separated from his town. Mainly, though, he doesn’t want to leave Ben.

Griffin is hopeful that the baseball card will be able to solve his family’s financial woes. After all, he’s heard of old baseball cards selling for a lot of money, and this card is still in good condition. When he takes it to Palomino’s Emporium, a shop owned by S. Wendell Palomino, the collector tells him and Ben that it’s actually a knockoff of the card from the sixties. Griffin is crestfallen, but sells it for $120.

A couple of days later, Griffin is furious to discover on TV that S. Wendell Palomino (now nicknamed “Swindle”) had swindled him out of an original 1920 card that was worth $974,000! $974,000 would mean the world to Griffin; not only being able to stay in Cedarville, but it would also put his parents constant arguments about money to rest forever.

Griffin can’t stand it when adults take advantage of kids. As Korman says, “The main theme of the book is kids taking matters into their own hands.” Luckily, Griffin is known as “The Man With the Plan” around town because he’s constantly making crazy and adventurous plans to accomplish whatever goal he wants to. In this case, he knows that if he wants that card back there’s only one thing to do: He’s going to have to steal it back.

To steal the card back from this thief is going to take the best plan of them all. Swindle has a tough guard dog named Luthor, a high-tech security system, a fence, and a safe. Griffin knows he and Ben can’t do it alone. Griffin compiles a team of people from his school whose talents he believes he can use to complete the heist.

Griffin and his team go to work trying to outfox Swindle. It comes down to an incredibly exciting ending, with the police eventually intervening. This book creates lots of exciting questions. Do they get the card back? Will Griffin’s family have to move away? What are the ethical consequences of what they’re doing? Who will ultimately win in the battle of Griffin and his friends versus Swindle?

Review

This is a great, action-packed book. The characters are interesting and each have their own personalities. Griffin and his friends are regular, independent kids trying to make their way in the adult world. They also have an enemy named Darren Vader who forcibly joins their team and no surprise causes trouble. The team has to be extremely intelligent and good at what they’re doing if they want to snag the card.

This is a very original story, although it is the kind of theme that could be expected from Gordon Korman. Griffin isn’t about to let a crook like Swindle make off with what was his baseball card. Griffin has never seen an object he considers immovable, and although his team may seem to be made up of a bunch of random kids, he has carefully chosen them for the skills that possess that will be necessary to the heist. Swindle may have the baseball card under very careful guard, but that’s just another challenge to be solved for The Man with the Plan.

Kids just love Swindle. I’ve spoken to lots of kids who have read it, and that’s the only impression I’ve gotten. I highly recommend it, and all the books in this series.

Thank you for reading this review and if you’d like to purchase the book you can do so through this link. You can also like my Facebook page or subscribe through email below.

Zoobreak by Gordon Korman: Review

April 18, 2012 by Daniel Johnston 8 Comments

Zoobreak by Gordon Korman is the second book in the Swindle series, immediately following the wildly popular inaugural book Swindle. In Swindle, the main character Griffin Bing and his best friend, Ben Slovak, stumble upon a 1920 Babe Ruth baseball card while sleeping in an abandoned old house that’s about to be knocked down the next morning. Griffin’s family is having financial problems, and he doesn’t know much about baseball cards, but an original 1920 Babe Ruth in mint condition has to be a lot of money. So they take it a collector to see if it’s worth anything and the guy (S. Wendell Palomino, nicknamed Swindle) lies that it’s just a cheap knockoff and buys it for a pittance. It turns out the card is worth $974,000. What the guy did is unethical, it’s sleazy, but there’s no way to prove he lied. Swindle is going to get away with it.

But Griffin is the Man with the Plan, and he and his team of friends come up with a plan to steal the card back. It’s a very exciting and action-packed book, and one I highly recommend.

So what did Gordon do to follow up on that success? He wrote Zoobreak, a book that expands on the theme of kids fighting against unfairness by taking matters into their own hands. In Swindle, there was a million dollar baseball card. In Zoobreak, there’s Savannah’s pet monkey. Savannah’s animal has been stolen, and she is simply not going to stand for that. To make matters right, Griffin Bing will have to pull off his wildest caper yet.

It is helpful to note that these books can be read in any order. While I would advise beginning with the first book, it is possible to pick up the series anywhere.

Summary

As mentioned above, Savannah’s monkey Cleopatra is stolen. When her dog Luthor goes looking and comes back with a banana, she is certain the animal was kidnapped. But that’s not evidence she can hand over to the police.

To make matters worse, Griffin’s best friend Ben Slovak has narcolepsy, a disease which makes him susceptible to falling asleep at any time of the day. And his condition is getting worse. His parents are getting ready to send him away to a boarding school where he can get help, which would be an obvious catastrophe. Even though Griffin’s dad tries to convince him this is the best thing for Ben, Griffin knows the only reason Ben is going is because he’s a kid, and his parents want him to go. Unfortunately, solving narcolepsy is not one of the skills of The Man with the Plan.

Later on when Savannah locates her monkey at a flying zoo, she is livid. But she has no proof the monkey is hers. Savannah is sure of it, and her prowess with animals is so well-known that most everyone is willing to accept it as true. Still, to get the DNA testing would take a year and cost a lot of money. With the way this zoo treats their animals, there’s reason to suspect Cleo will not even survive that long. But Savannah is forced to leave her monkey there. There’s nothing she can do.

But where other people see closed doors, The Man with the Plan only sees opportunity. That zoo stole Savannah’s monkey, and just like they took back the million dollar baseball card in Swindle, this time they’re taking back something even more valuable. But every good planner knows that no plan can fit every situation, and there’s definitely no way to anticipate the insane situation these characters find themselves in.

Review

This book is 230 pages with large font, written for kids around the age of 9-14. The writing is very good and the book is fast-paced and exciting as is usual with this series.

This is a great book, with Griffin and his friends being firmly committed to taking down the vicious animal thief by whatever means necessary. The team certainly makes good on Griffin’s stated goal of standing up to unfairness in this one.

Click here to buy the book Zoobreak by Gordon Korman. You can also check out my Facebook Page or subscribe via email below for more book reviews.

Framed by Gordon Korman (Swindle Series): Review

April 11, 2012 by Daniel Johnston 4 Comments

Framed is the third edition in the popular Swindle series written by best-selling author Gordon Korman, one of my personal favorite authors. This series features Griffin Bing (the main character) and their gang of friends. In Swindle, the inaugural book, Griffin and his best friend Ben Slovak discover a 1920 Babe Ruth baseball card while sleeping in abandoned old house that’s about to be knocked down. They take it to a collector to see if maybe it will solve Griffin’s financial problems, but the appraiser (S. Wendell Palomino, nicknaked Swindle) tells them that it’s just a cheap knockoff and buys it for $120. But actually, it’s worth $974,000. The only way to get the card is to steal it back.

After Zoobreak (which was an excellent continuation of the spirit of the first book), Framed is a another great entry that keeps the series rolling. In this book, Griffin and his friends go to a middle school with a principal (Dr. Egan; nicknamed Dr. Evil) who hates them because of their past. Griffin wants to get back at him, but after being threatened by the police at the end of Zoobreak, none of the team is eager to try another “plan.”

Note: These books can be read in any order. While I always recommend starting at the beginning, it is by no means necessary, as the plots are independent to each book.

Below is a video trailer for Framed made by Scholastic.

Summary

A 1968 Jets super bowl ring mysteriously disappears from the school. And Griffin’s retainer (which he had previously lost) is found right in the case where the ring used to be! Griffin didn’t do it, but to Dr. Egan and the police the evidence is pretty compelling. Judge Koretsky, who is assigned to his case, also does not buy his story and banishes him to the John F. Kennedy Alternative Education Center (JFK), infamously known as “Jail for Kids.”

Griffin and his friends pick several suspects: Darren Vader (a money lover and a member of the Swindle and Zoobreak teams), Cecilia White (a newspaper columnist who is trying to call attention to Griffin’s plots), Dr. Egan, and a kid by the name of Tony Bartholomew who is related to Art Blankenship (the former owner of the ring) and wants to grab it for himself. But his sting operation doesn’t go as planned, and Judge Koretsky confines him to house arrest.

Griffin is determined to unmask the identity of the scoundrel who’s framing him. Griffin’s parents are distraught as they know he lost his retainer earlier and wasn’t guilty, but begin to lose their patience when Griffin’s sting operations start to land him in more trouble. Griffin’s spirits sink lower as he is kept away from his friends and things are showing no sign of getting better. To smoke out the thief and drop the fallacious charges levied against him it will take a truly spectacular solution.

Review

This book is 234 pages with large font, meant for kids in the age group of 9-14. The writing is very good and the book is fast-paced and exciting as is typical with Korman books.

His books frequently put his characters in interesting situations and in no way fall into any kind of the preachiness that has plagued kids books for so long. Instead Korman prefers smart characters who are never afraid to take action to get whatever it is they want. A recurrent theme of the Swindle series is kids fighting against unfairness by taking matters into their own hands, and this book executes that theme in excellent fashion. It is very fast-paced and exciting, with constant plans and movement from the characters. The ending is a little bit unconnected to the rest of the book, but it is one that you definitely will not be able to guess.

This book captures the excitement of the original book and is highly recommended. Click here to buy the book Framed by Gordon Korman.

Showoff by Gordon Korman (Swindle Series): Review

February 8, 2012 by Daniel Johnston 7 Comments

Series Background

Regular readers of this blog will know that Gordon Korman is one of my absolute favorite kids authors. The first book I read by him was Swindle, a book about Griffin Bing and his gang of friends to steal back a valuable 1920 Babe Ruth baseball card that is rightfully theirs; the owner of a local baseball shop, S. Wendell Palomino (otherwise known as Swindle) buys the card from Griffin after he finds it in an old abandoned house for only $120. I highly recommend this book and it was recently featured in my Six Books for Tweens that are Breathtakingly Awesome list. Other people massively enjoy it, too, and it has sold millions of copies and become wildly popular among kids.

I also mentioned in that list that there were three sequels. Showoff by Gordon Korman is the latest book in the Swindle Series. Griffin and his friends are back in a caper that will take animal expert Savannah Drysdale’s dog Luthor from the pound to the Global Kennel Society Dog Competition.

Lest you worry you need to read them in order – while I’d recommend it, the plots aren’t tied together, and these books can stand well by themselves

Okay, now to the actual plot and book. Griffin and his friend Ben Slovak are on a six-week sleepover during the summer while Griffin’s dad, an inventor, tours Europe in order to try to sell his stock. Griffin and Ben are best friends, with Griffin being the “Man with the Plan” and Ben being his sidekick.

As school lets out, they meet up with Savannah to attend a dog show which showcases the number one dog in the world at the time, Electra. Savannah brought her dog Luthor along with her to see the show. However, it comes to pass that a tragedy happens. For some reason, Luthor goes and attacks Electra. Luthor is a big doberman who used to be a guard dog, but Electra is just a tiny dog, and is injured badly. Electra was going for an unprecedented third straight victory at the Global Kennel Society Dog Competition, a victory that would’ve netted her owners multi-millions of dollars. Now, they will be suing for compensation against Savannah and her family.

The lawsuit is for over $7,000,000, and even though Luthor has never done anything like this before (as aforementioned, he used to be a guard dog, but with Savannah he’s fun-loving and absolutely fine), the Drysdale’s decide that they have to take Luthor to the pound in order to make themselves look better for the lawsuit.

Luthor was Savannah’s most beloved pet, and his disappearance throws the entire household into a frenzy. Another of Savannah’s pets, Cleopatra (a monkey), was best friends with Luthor, and even tries to break into Griffin’s house in the hope that Luthor might be there. But Savannah is even more distraught. She is so upset that her parents take her on a vacation for the summer to get her mind off her beloved (and likely to be soon dead) dog.

Griffin and Ben are at first not too upset about it. They didn’t like Luthor anyways. But when Griffin hears Luthor’s mournful wails, he knows they have to do something. And they can’t let Savannah’s family go bankrupt! But what can they do? It’s no problem for the Man with the Plan.

There’s no way Griffin’s dad will let them adopt the huge (and menacing canine), but maybe they can somehow get Luthor to win the Global Kennel Club. If they can, then not only can Luthor get back to Savannah, but the money from that can pay off the lawsuit. But can Griffin and Ben train a dog that wrecks an entire garage in less than a day? Especially since without Savannah, Luthor is in an especially bad mood? Will the truth about why Luthor attacked Savannah coax an old dog-lover back into the show to save the day?

Review

The book is 240 pages with large font. It’s meant for kids around 9-14, and has high quality writing. While an action/adventure book, the danger contained is not nearly as much as the other books in the series. Someone tries to harm them, but it is underplayed and never made to be too serious a problem. This book is different in tone from all the other books in the series. It has a lot of action, but is much more relaxed, in addition to being a lot more predictable than the other books.

Despite not being quite the high-stakes rollercoaster the other Swindle books are, Showoff is still a good addition to the series and will be well-received among kid readers. Click here to buy the book, Showoff by Gordon Korman! You can also enter your email below to get more book reviews. And you can like my Facebook page if you want.