 | Hoax for hire Author: Martin, Laura | |
| Price: $6.55 | ||
Summary:
The McNeil family has always been professional hoaxers -- tricking bystanders into believing they're seeing legendary creatures like Bigfoot and the Loch Ness Monster. Unlike the rest of his family, twelve-year-old Grayson hates hoaxing and wants nothing to do with the business -- even when the McNeils land a huge job and must pull off four sea monster hoaxes in a week. But when things go disastrously wrong and Dad and Gramps go missing, Grayson and his brother, Curtis, are the only people who can finish the job and save their family.
| Accelerated Reader Information: Interest Level: MG Reading Level: 6.10 Points: 11.0 Quiz: 508182 |
Full Text Reviews:
Booklist - 07/01/2019 Preteen Grayson McNeil longs to get out of his family’s traditional business and attend an exclusive private high school where he can pursue his interest in photography. Martin takes this relatively conventional premise for a dizzying spin: that family business happens to be the staging of cryptid sightings, crop circles, and other cons. Grayson has painful choices to make when longtime rivals in the same line of work kidnap the adult McNeils and steal their elaborately crafted monster models and suits. Without help from the police (duh), can Grayson and his only somewhat more experienced older brother pull off a scheduled Champ sighting in Vermont and a rescue? Giving her sometimes comically hapless duo an unasked-for ally in Clare, a biracial classmate of Grayson’s who has secrets of her own (but is more resourceful than all of the males in the tale combined), the author piles hoaxes atop hoaxes on the way to a climactic end. The McNeil motto, “Keep the Legends Alive,” takes on new meaning for Grayson, as it will for readers. - Copyright 2019 Booklist.
School Library Journal - 08/01/2019 Gr 3–7—Have you ever seen a Loch Ness Monster? The MacNeils see them every day because they pull off hoaxes, tricking people into thinking their creations are the real thing. A sea monster, Bigfoot, a yeti, a Bunyip, and more are all part of their "research." Grayson's family comes from a long line of cryptid hunters and adventure seekers. But the 12-year-old struggles with this life of lies about creatures that don't exist. His older brother, Curtis, is all in, but Grayson wishes he could study photography and attend school full time. Just once, he would love to capture his adventures on film and write about them. Even though Curtis hurls rude comments at his brother daily—Grayson calls them "poetic"—the family's commitment to one another is strong. VERDICT Martin weaves a wonderful adventure of hoaxes, legendary monsters, and the importance of family connections. Children will appreciate the creative and difficult steps the family takes to accomplish each hoax and the surprises along the way.—Paige Bentley-Flannery, Deschutes Public Library, Bend, OR - Copyright 2019 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission.
