Wednesday, November 18, 2015

Schreiber, Joe. Con Academy.

Schreiber, Joe.  Con Academy.  Houghton Mifflin  2015  236p.  $17.99  ISBN 978-0-544-32020-8  hs  Conflict  E-BN       

When Shea, a con artist, enters a private school, he quickly finds out that his back story may unravel when a fellow con artist student threatens to out him.  He strikes a deal with the other boy to bring down the most powerful, often hated boy on campus.  The agreement is that the winner will get to stay at the prestigious Connaughton Academy, and the loser will be outed and have to leave campus.  Plenty of plot twists and turns interspersed with humor make this a book to remember, as well as its sheer number of cons within cons.  Shea even finds out that some people on campus are not the wealthy, do-gooders they seem to be, including the headmaster.   From the author of Au Revoir Crazy European Chick and its sequel, this novel keeps the readers attention while making the teen characters believable in their audacious behavior and their intentions to take down the big man on campus.  While this may seem like a beach read, it will appeal to both male and female readers who like an action-packed adventure. Serious questions are presented about the faces students put on while navigating their teen years. 

Summary: A con artist, Shea, cons his way into a private school.  There he meets a fellow con artist with whom he competes to see who will be the first to con the most powerful student on campus.  Lots of plot surprises, with enough humor along the way to make this memorable. Grades 8+      


School stories, Humor-Fiction                               --Lois McNicol

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