![]() Griffin has never seen an object he considers immovable, and although his team may seem to be made up of a bunch of random kids, he has carefully chosen them for the skills that possess that will be necessary to the heist. Griffin isn’t about to let a crook like Swindle make off with what was his baseball card. This is a very original story, although it is the kind of theme that could be expected from Gordon Korman. ![]() The team has to be extremely intelligent and good at what they’re doing if they want to snag the card. They also have an enemy named Darren Vader who forcibly joins their team and no surprise causes trouble. Griffin and his friends are regular, independent kids trying to make their way in the adult world. The characters are interesting and each have their own personalities. Do they get the card back? Will Griffin’s family have to move away? What are the ethical consequences of what they’re doing? Who will ultimately win in the battle of Griffin and his friends versus Swindle? Review This book creates lots of exciting questions. It comes down to an incredibly exciting ending, with the police eventually intervening. Griffin and his team go to work trying to outfox Swindle. Griffin compiles a team of people from his school whose talents he believes he can use to complete the heist. Griffin knows he and Ben can’t do it alone. Swindle has a tough guard dog named Luthor, a high-tech security system, a fence, and a safe. To steal the card back from this thief is going to take the best plan of them all. In this case, he knows that if he wants that card back there’s only one thing to do: He’s going to have to steal it back. As Korman says, “The main theme of the book is kids taking matters into their own hands.” Luckily, Griffin is known as “The Man With the Plan” around town because he’s constantly making crazy and adventurous plans to accomplish whatever goal he wants to. Griffin can’t stand it when adults take advantage of kids. Wendell Palomino (now nicknamed “Swindle”) had swindled him out of an original 1920 card that was worth $974,000! $974,000 would mean the world to Griffin not only being able to stay in Cedarville, but it would also put his parents constant arguments about money to rest forever. Griffin is crestfallen, but sells it for $120.Ī couple of days later, Griffin is furious to discover on TV that S. Wendell Palomino, the collector tells him and Ben that it’s actually a knockoff of the card from the sixties. When he takes it to Palomino’s Emporium, a shop owned by S. After all, he’s heard of old baseball cards selling for a lot of money, and this card is still in good condition. Griffin is hopeful that the baseball card will be able to solve his family’s financial woes. Mainly, though, he doesn’t want to leave Ben. He doesn’t want to be separated from his town. His father is an inventor who has fallen on tough times recently, and his family is facing the possibility of having to move away. While exploring the house, Griffin finds a 1920 Babe Ruth baseball card. It was going to get knocked down the next morning, and Griffin had come up with a plan to protest by having some of his fellow seventh-graders camp out with him at the building.Tons of people said they were going to show up, but ultimately, he and Ben were left alone. Swindle starts off with the main character Griffin Bing and his best friend, Ben Slovak, camping out in an old abandoned mansion. So why is Swindle so popular? What makes this one of the best-selling kids books of recent times?Īlso check out the video trailer on Scholastic’s website. It has also been adapted into a movie by Nickelodeon (which I thought was rather subpar, especially compared to the book, by the way). Swindle has sold millions of copies and spawned follow-up books Zoobreak, Framed, Showoff, and Hideout. The common refrain of kids about Swindle is, “I finished it in three days!” Well, guess what I finished Swindle the very night I got it! By the time Gordon Korman came to my school, everyone was in love with him, and tons of kids I know have read it. I was in fifth grade in 2008 when it first came out, and Gordon Korman was coming to visit my school! In preparation, our librarian had us read some books by Gordon Korman, and I was instantly hooked! Swindle by Gordon Korman has become a modern classic.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |