‘To Catch a Cheat’ by Varian Johnson

To Catch a Cheat by Varian Johnson is an entertaining story about a youthful con artist. The protagonist, Jackson Greene, is determined to retire after an earlier successful heist that prevented school election wrong-doing.

Jackson and his crew are now being threatened by a doctored security video that appears to depict them flooding the entire middle school. To prevent the video being turned over to the principal, Jackson and his crew must engineer a heist of the answers for an upcoming test.

With this demand hanging over them, Jackson and “Gang Greene” are determined to uncover the real culprit(s). Who really flooded the school, and who is attempting to pressure them? An added complication concerns the fact that Jackson is being forced out of retirement. His friend Charlie de la Cruz had been prepared to take on leading the team, and Charlie has his own style of doing things.

This story will appeal to readers who enjoy complicated turns of plot, especially those who enjoy protagonists with a strong moral compass. As an added feature, the author, Varian Johnson, includes an explanation of several cultural references — including scenes from film and television — that relate to elements of the plot involving heists and schemes.

Readers may want to read The Great Greene Heist, which is set prior to this one, but To Catch a Cheat can be read on its own with the back-story easily understandable. I’d originally learned about this book from a librarian’s recommendation, and I’m looking forward to readers being able to check it out from our school library.

‘Nevermoor: The Trials of Morrigan Crow’

First in a series, this story concerns a girl whom everyone believes to be “cursed.” Because of this curse, Morrigan Crow is a convenient scapegoat for everything that goes wrong in her community — even, sometimes, “extreme” weather events or other people’s own wrong decisions.

Even more concerning is the fact that cursed children die when the calendar cycle reaches Eventide, the “last day of the age.”

The timely arrival of Jupiter North, a member of the Wundrous Society, allows Morrigan to escape this fate, but thrusts her into a world of new challenges as she competes for a place in the Society.

With deft world-building, author Jessica Townsend introduces readers to a society where Wunder, a magical substance, is relied on like a power-utility. What is the connection between shortages of Wunder and cursed children living in an area? Who is the Wundersmith, a person feared and spoken of in legend? This story is sure to appeal to young readers who enjoy epic fantasy.