Jackpot
by Gordon Korman
Jackpot is the sixth book in Gordon Korman’s popular Swindle series, which follows Griffin (a.k.a. The Man With The Plan) and his Cedarville friends on their many risky operations. As the story opens, the team learns that a Giga-Millions lottery ticket containing the winning numbers for a prize of $29,876,454.53 has not been redeemed since the announcement of the numbers last October 6. Every penny of the winnings will be lost if the ticket’s owner hasn’t come forward after exactly 1 year has past. ...And it’s only a matter of weeks until the next October 6, the doomful deadline! Driven by the genuine desire to help make one lottery player’s dream come true, and the distant hope of finding some financial security for his struggling family, Griffin sets out to find the long-lost millionaire-to-be through his latest plan, “Operation Jackpot.” After one of his earlier escapades backfires, though, Griffin is forced to partner with Cedarville’s greedy bully, Darren, instead of his age-old team of Ben, Pitch, Savannah, Logan, and Melissa, who have been stolen by the new kid in town, Victor. What hurts Griffin more is that Victor has taken his role of The Man With The Plan and is leading his irreplaceable friends on their own missing-lottery-ticket mission. As the countdown dwindles from weeks to days to sheer hours, Griffin strains to recover not only a voucher for $30 million but also several priceless friendships.
My Rating: Good
I’ve developed high expectations for Swindle books, and this one doesn’t disappoint. Korman uses his engaging voice to develop another flawless, fast-paced plot. While the target audience for the book is most likely elementary and middle-schoolers, high-schoolers like myself, who were part of the target audience when the Swindle series was born and have come to treasure the books, can still greatly enjoy, and, even at some points, be challenged by this praiseworthy book.Reviewed by Elijah P.
