Pirates of the Retail Wasteland

July 1, 2008
Gr 6-9-To document the impact of corporate change and suburban sprawl on their town, eighth-grader Leon Noside and his gifted-pool classmates stage a mutiny against a giant coffee franchise. They raise a pirate flag and change the retailer into an accounting office for a day with the help of the local staff. While recording the reactions of homemakers, hotshots, and school librarians who are being tested to see if they notice, Leon also has to face his conflicted feelings toward two of his classmates. The quirks of the authority figures will have a high appeal to teens; Leon's family members re-create awful dinners from old cookbooks and adopt matching personalities, which gives readers a chance to commiserate over weird families of all sorts. They will be disappointed in the mediocre climax of the book; the pirate theme tapers off as the students abandon the project after a low-key confrontation with an antagonistic gym teacher. Addressing similar issues as Stefan Petrucha's "Teen, Inc." (Walker, 2007) but for a younger audience, this is a general purchase for medium to large collections."Chris Shoemaker, New York Public Library"

Copyright 2008 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

March 15, 2008
Leon and his friends want to strike a blow against corporate America and protest the destruction of his local downtown, but how? After agonized thought (some about the project, most about girls), Leon decides that he and his buddies should act like pirates and take over thesoulless coffee franchise, Wackfords. The takeover will be filmed and used to highlight the difference between ugly strip development and the quirky downtown with its arty coffee shop, Sip. Wildly eccentric characters (some almost caricatures) people the pages, including Leons accountant father, who sports a green mohawk, and a punky ballroom-dancing barista. Comic situations are recounted by flippant, hypersmart Leon, who often sounds older than his 14 years. Give this to fans of Bucking the Sarge, by Christopher Paul Curtis (2004), who enjoy seeing smart, rule-breaking kids take on the adult world.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2008, American Library Association.)

July 1, 2008
Leon (How To Get Suspended and Influence People) sets out to create an homage to downtown by taking over a chain coffeehouse in the new strip mall and filming people's reactions to the town's development plans. Readers unfamiliar with the first book may grow frustrated with Leon's single-minded compulsion, but others will enjoy his continued anti-establishment exploits.

(Copyright 2008 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)