The Great Greene Heist (Jackson Greene)

With its fun cover, great premise, and kicky writing complete with twist, this book fulfills the childhood desire for autonomy while also knocking down stereotypes left and right. Let us hope, then, that it is a sign of more of the same to come. Notes on the Cover: Yes and also thank you. Now granted, the original cover was pretty cool. But at least they kept the same artist. Now it has more of a movie poster feel. Nothing wrong with that. As long as Jackson himself is front and center that is all I care. Way to knock it out of the park! As of this review there is no book trailer for this book.

Make it and I will post it, absolutely.

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For a guide, I direct you to this Muppet version of that very thing. She has served on Newbery, written for Horn Book, and has done other lovely little things that she'd love to tell you about but that she's sure you'd find more interesting to hear of in person. Her opinions are her own and do not reflect those of EPL, SLJ, or any of the other acronyms you might be able to name. Follow her on Twitter: Loved this one too. But that pretty much dissipated once I saw the final. Feel like a bullet went somewhere past my ear, though. Review of the Day: On shelves May 27th. Galley sent from publisher for review.

Pickle by Kim Baker — Similar, but less a con novel than a pranking novel. Both types of stories require that the kids be in charge and the adults fall in line.

Review of the Day: The Great Greene Heist by Varian Johnson

Griff Carver, Hallway Patrol by Jim Krieg — A highly underrated novel and almost completely forgotten thanks to its gawdawful cover. But this joke on the hard-boiled cop genre definitely reminded me of the tone Varian Johnson set with his own book. And certainly while it may be true that the bulk of multicultural literature for children does delve into serious subjects, there are exceptions to every rule.

I look at this book and I think of Pickle by Kimberly Baker. I think of fun books that look amusing and will entice readers. Books that librarians and booksellers will be able to handsell with ease by merely describing the plot. With its fun cover, great premise, and kicky writing complete with twist, this book fulfills the childhood desire for autonomy while also knocking down stereotypes left and right.

Let us hope, then, that it is a sign of more of the same to come. For ages 10 and up.

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View all 4 comments. May 06, Ms. This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Jackson Greene, who learned cons from his grandfather and who has followed in his older brother's footsteps in perpetrating them, has given up his life of crime. He's run awful of Keith Sinclair, but now finds that he was not a good enemy to make. Keith is bound and determined to win the election for school president so he can funnel money into his own activities and take it away from everyone else. Keith's rich father has bribed the principal to make this happen.

Still, when Jackson decides tha Jackson Greene, who learned cons from his grandfather and who has followed in his older brother's footsteps in perpetrating them, has given up his life of crime. Still, when Jackson decides that the best way to avoid his groups losing money is to have his former girlfriend, Gaby, run, he has a lot of work to do. This involves a lot of friends with odd technical skills, breaking and entering, reformatting a Scantron machine, and a suspicious amount of money.

Add to this the trauma of a formal middle school dance, and Jackson has his work cut out for him. This has gotten a huge amount of buzz, from a glowing review from Betsy Bird to a whole internet campaign from Kate Messner. Everyone is thrilled that there are diverse characters. The writing is fine in this one, and students who enjoyed The Fourth Stall will like this one.

It's hard to find funny books for boys, so I will definitely be purchasing this one. However, my head is exploding now because everyone else thinks it is so fantastic, and I really didn't like it! This is the sort of book that I find completely unrealistic.

Bird describes this as a sort of fantasy book, and that is definitely the case. When I explained it to my daughter, she questioned if the author had been in an actual middle school lately. This is set in a suburb of Columbus, Ohio, which is where I am, so I had a hard time believing all of the following: A rich parent was bribing the principal; the secretary could get away with such racist comments; club funding was dependent on student input at all; there was funding for student clubs; children were able to break into the school; children were able to break into the office; the office had a super special lock; the office blindly agrees to accept a new scantron machine and have the old one taken away without any identification or notification from the "company"; there was a school president, and the election was a big deal; there was a formal dance at a middle school for which girls got formals and boys rented tuxes.

To me, this didn't have the tongue-in-cheek humor of The Fourth Stall, there were a lot of characters, and they were hard to keep straight, and there was an odd sense that I was missing a huge amount of back story. I really looked forward to seeing this one, but it was such a tough go. Am I the only one who felt that way? I feel like a traitor disliking it at all! View all 7 comments. Aug 17, Liviania rated it really liked it.

Varian Johnson is a local Austin author, so I saw him speak several times back when I lived there. He's been talking the talk and walking the walk about diversity in children's books since before it was trendy. I'm happy to see him make the jump to middle grade and reach a new group of readers. This book is clearly positioned to be the start of a series, Varian Johnson is a local Austin author, so I saw him speak several times back when I lived there. This book is clearly positioned to be the start of a series, but it doesn't waste time.

At first I felt like I'd missed a book, but then I caught on. There's very little talking down to the reader. Jackson Greene is known around school for getting things done, but he's decided to stop interfering ever since his last caper ended up destroying his relationship with his best friend, Gaby. But now his rival and the richest kid in school, Frank Sinclair, is running against Gaby for Student Council President, and Jackson just knows he isn't going to play fair.

If you just go with it, it's fun. It's very much a homage to OCEAN'S 11 and other heist films, with a crackerjack team of nerds who each have their own specialties. The technology is fake, but the cleverness and scheming are real. This quick-paced novel will appeal to readers looking for an adventure set in the present day. Everything is kept on an age appropriate level, from kissing just a peck! Most of the characters a broad types, but Jackson himself is well rounded.

It's a fun book. May 01, Beth rated it it was ok Shelves: The central conceit of The Great Greene Heist is a middle school principal taking bribes to rig a student council president election. That's not a spoiler, by the way. That's something presented immediately. The rest of the book continues in that vein, but it lacks the verve, the levity, the deft touch to sell that kind of overblown con story. Instead, it tries to be plausible, and as a result it never succeeds at convincing on any level.

From a plot level: Ocean's Eleven is listed as an influence, but Ocean's Eleven works because it lets viewers witness everything and then reveals the truth.

This novel's perspective is much more limited, and so the con never succeeded for me. From a setting level: I'd buy the racist secretary if she was grounded more in the plot, but she strikes an odd tone in the middle of the "Blitz at the Fitz" angle of the story. The Great Greene Heist would need to contain more truth for her character to work. There is one truth contained in The Great Greene Heist, and that's its diversity.

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I don't want to downplay that. And yet it feels like this story does its characters a disservice, because it never succeeds in making its cast real. I found the writing stilted and the voice alternatively too slick or unconvincing, the characters flat because their motivations seemed insufficient. It doesn't succeed because it tries to be both. Creo que necesitaba una buena historia, sencilla, fresca y un poco infantil, pero no por eso menos original. Nada se queda corto. Todos son tremendamente inteligentes y audaces, sobre todo Jackson, que es el protagonista.

Aunque, claro, ellos no utilizan sus capacidades para hacer el mal. Pero bueno, volvamos al libro. May 12, Watch Books rated it it was ok Shelves: I was really excited to read this book. Not that its anything wrong with it, but with the majority of black literature for children usually being about civil rights, or slavery, or serious life topics, I thought it would be cool that there was a book with a AA character just doing "normal" things.

Sometimes, the serious topics can be a little heavy, and I was excited that this book could be a cool, fun, lighthearted, and the main character just so happens to be AA. The book was good and the conc I was really excited to read this book. The book was good and the concept was very interesting. I think kids and adults alike will enjoy reading it. My only disappointment was that I felt like the story was bogged down with characters a little.

Also, I was let down that the story line so heavily surrounded around the characters love interest big no no for me, especially in kids books. Gaby was a goody goody in my opinion, and I didn't find anything to like about her. I also felt like Jackson could have been so much cooler, if most of his thoughts weren't taken up about her.

I personally walked away feeling let down, but that may have been because before reading it, I had painted the picture of the story a little differently in my mind. Overall, It was a good book, not sure if I would recommend mainly because the love-interest-plot-turned-main-plot - Zoe Jul 22, Dawn Teresa rated it really liked it Shelves: Originally published on my blog, ReadLove. Jackson Greene has swagger. First, as the cover makes boldly clear, this a deeply diverse cast of characters led by an African-American boy.

This in and of itself is no small feat in middle grade fiction. The kids who make up this book are lovably atypical. Their distinctiveness goes beyond their skin color. They are smart kids who dare to be different. Megan, the beautiful cheerleader, also happens to know how to program code and speak Klingon! There are Star Trek references a-plenty! Varian Johnson tips his hat to Trek, and makes other popular culture references including Star Wars and Oceans Eleven. Saying The Great Greene Heist is implausible is like pointing out that no group of sane adults could be as dysfunctional and wacko as the cast of Seinfeld.

Sit back and remember what it was like to be a kid with a head full of dreams and schemes. And enjoy watching a grand plan play out! Readers who like mystery, suspense, and humor, with a dash of comeuppance, will gobble this up. I would like to thank Arthur A. Levine Books and NetGalley for allowing me access to the title. Aug 31, Zanye rated it it was amazing Shelves: There's this feeling you get in a good caper novel, like you're there with the crew.

Varian Johnson is a genius with this book. Everything is so well put together, and it all fits together at the end like all the good heist volumes. It's like the book version of The Sting and Ocean's Eleven put together. And oh yeah, it's all set in middle school. Somehow Johnson pulls it off. Jackson Greene is known as a con artist at Maplewood Middle School.

The Shakedown at Shimmering Hills, The Blitz at the There's this feeling you get in a good caper novel, like you're there with the crew. But after he got caught in a heist later dubbed the Mid-Day PDA in spite of Greene's attempts to get the name 'The Kelsey Job' to stick, the label remains , Greene promises to his sort-of-girlfriend Gaby de la Cruz that he'll stop with the cons and heists. It was all part of the heist, but Gaby doesn't believe him.

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The story picks up four months into this promise, and he has yet to break it. Gaby is running for school president, but her opponent, Keith Sinclair, the mark of the Shakedown at Shimmering Hills and the Blitz at the Fitz, has paid off the principal, and is guaranteed to win. This is where Jackson Greene and his gang of merry con artists steps in. He recruits Victor Cho, the bankroll. Bradley Boardman, the inside man. Hashemi Larijani, the tech support. Megan Feldman, the White Rabbit and the tech goddess. And Charlie de la Cruz, Gaby's brother and Jackson's right hand man. Together, they hatch a plan to tip the ballot in Gaby's favor.

The only challenge is that the ballot is tipped in Keith's favor in the first place. And Jackson has to get back on Gaby's good side. So yeah, they have their work cut out for them. The book is so fast-paced but makes sense throughout. The only complaint I have is that the story picks up after all his cons, and though the cons are referenced throughout, Johnson never fully explains them.

Hilarious, and so fun! A lovely diverse cast try to rig the school elections, not for nefarious purposes, but because the PRINCIPAL is rigging it himself, in order to appease a wealthy parent who has been bribing him! What's a kind of reformed young con artist to do? The honest and best candidate is the girl he's crushing on, and she's the sister of his right hand man. Obviously he has to help, even though he's under strict orders from his parents, the principal, and even some of his more sensible friends NOT to get into trouble again.

But is it really trouble, if you're in the right? I loved the kids, and their families, and the way everyone interacted. Even though we're talking about a middle school age con artist with many famous "capers" under his belt, he felt real, and so did his family and friends. I really loved it. The one thing I did have a problem with is that the principal is well. And everyone seems to know it. As a parent of school-aged children, I found that rather alarming. Here's hoping that my kids' principal doesn't take bribes! May 24, Ann rated it it was amazing Shelves: Every time we turn on the news, we hear about some type of voter fraud or bribery or corruption in politics, and I wanted to explore that—lightly—in this novel.

Second, can you name one or two other books that fall into this category that are personal favorites of yours? When I was a younger, I wanted to see myself reflected in the world I knew—a world that was sometimes scary, but a world also influenced by the normalcy of suburbia. I wanted to see myself in mysteries, thrillers, love stories and science fiction—basically, I wanted to see myself in everything.

On the one hand, this serves as a really great plot device within the story, since the kids are then able to fool her in necessary ways; but on the other hand, you must have consciously and deliberately chosen to include this. Can you talk about making this choice within a book that is otherwise free of the common discussions of race in books with kids of various ethnic backgrounds?