Gr 3—5—Ten-year-old Zachary Ruthless's parents are nice, really nice. When they learn that there are bad influences in town, they decide to send their son away to Sister Celia's School for Good Samaritans for the summer. Little do they know that Zachary is the mastermind behind the evil pranks happening in Plentyville, and he goes to great lengths to get accepted into the Society of Utterly Rotten, Beastly, Loathsome, Lawbreaking Scoundrels, otherwise known as SOURBALLS. The black-and-white cartoon drawings help the story along, as when Zachary opens a box of goodies that he has ordered from evilbadguystuff.com. Zachary's antics are a little over-the-top, the irony may be lost on younger readers, and some of the vocabulary is a little advanced for its intended audience. However, fans of Dav Pilkey's "Captain Underpants" series (Scholastic) will probably enjoy it. It meets the "gross" requirement with bugs, snakes, barf, and zombies. An additional purchase for those looking for series chapter books.—Tammy DiBartolo, Rapides Parish Library, Alexandria, LA
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