In the hilarious, outrageous, and heartwarming novel Busted by Dan Gemeinhart, a 12-year-old rule follower unwillingly teams up with an ex-mobster and a snarky girl to get cash for his grandfather's skyrocketing rent.
Oscar Aberdeen has lived his entire life with his grandfather, Pops, at the Sunny Days Retirement Community, and it shows. His language ("humdinger," "malarkey," "hogwash") and cultural references (Frank Sinatra, PBS NewsHour) skew 80-something. His strict sense of responsibility, which at Sunny Days includes planning anniversary parties, playing bridge, and giving eulogies, makes him an honorary grandson for most of the residents. Life is "a-okay," until the rent is raised impossibly high and Oscar and Pops face eviction. So, when new resident Jimmy "I wasn't no mobster" Deluca approaches Oscar with a "business proposition," Oscar is intrigued despite his tummy telling him no.
What follows is madcap entertainment on a cinematic scale. Oscar (who becomes "Kid Ravioli"), Jimmy ("the Wrench"), Jimmy's hairless cat, Mr. Buttercup, and 12-year-old tagalong Natasha ("No Nuts") embark on an over-the-top adventure that includes hot-wiring and stealing a car, visiting a prisoner ("Thumbs") in the state penitentiary, and joining a decades-old "illegal secret poker game." Jimmy is comically stereotypical as a mafia "fixer," and the dynamic among caustic Jimmy, uptight Oscar, and smart-aleck Natasha provides a droll tension throughout, especially since all three have (sometimes) hidden hearts of gold. In Busted, storyteller extraordinaire Gemeinhart (The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise; Some Kind of Courage) gives readers another thoroughly absorbing novel with nonstop action and lovable characters. --Emilie Coulter, freelance writer and editor