The Scam List

Gr 9 Up–Quick on his feet, Boone McReedy comes from a family of con artists. Though his mother is reformed and his father is in jail, there’s no doubt Boone is his father’s son. His family’s flea market is fighting to stay afloat, since the new and flashy competitor across the street is taking their business. He shirks his duty of safely depositing money for the market to meet a girl and gets conned for $15,000 in the process. Facing the fact of having to say goodbye to the business if he can’t recover the money, Boone joins forces with his ex-girlfriend and current crush, Darby, to use the best cons his dad came up with to try and win the money back. Boone worries that he’s just like his father but in the end, the biggest con he pulls off might just save himself and the family business. Boone’s internal dialogue tries too hard to fit the archetypal rabble-rousing teen. Still, the book packs some unseen twists and turns that make it an entertaining and breezy read. Other than clothes, characters’ appearances aren’t described in the text.