 | Jackpot Author: Stone, Nic | |
| Price: $10.65 | ||
Summary:
When Rico sells a jackpot-winning lotto ticket, she thinks maybe her luck will finally change, but only if she and her popular and wildly rich classmate, Zan can find the ticket holder who hasn't claimed the prize.
| Accelerated Reader Information: Interest Level: UG Reading Level: 4.60 Points: 11.0 Quiz: 505965 |
Full Text Reviews:
Booklist - 08/01/2019 Seventeen-year-old Rico Danger (pronounced DON-gur) helps her single mother pay rent and raise nine-year-old Jax, which leaves no time for making friends or having dreams. Then, while working at a gas station register, she sells a lotto ticket to a cute old lady, who—after no one claims the $106 million prize—Rico is sure has the winner. She turns to millionaire teen heartthrob Zan to help her find the woman, but when he takes a more-than-friendly interest in Rico, she must figure out how she can possibly fit into his upper-class world. Stone (Odd One Out, 2018) delivers a heartfelt, humorous teen romance fraught with the tension between financial privilege and the lack thereof. While presenting a shrewd depiction of the resulting power dynamics, the stakes feel surprisingly low, and the romance is somewhat humdrum. Despite puzzling chapter intervals written from the perspective of omniscient objects (e.g., a saltshaker, Zan’s bedsheets), there’s something about Stone’s storytelling—and Rico’s narration—that is entirely engaging, making this an ultimately hard-to-put-down, enjoyable read.HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Stone’s debut, Dear Martin (2017), launched an award-winning, best-selling career that shows no sign of slowing down, and she'll be touring the nation with her latest. - Copyright 2019 Booklist.
School Library Journal - 10/01/2019 Gr 8 Up–Seventeen-year-old Rico Danger (pronounced DON-gur) has never wondered what it would be like to win the lottery, even though her mom isn't great at handling the little money they have and is too proud to sign up for the public assistance they desperately need. That is, until the Georgia Gas 'n' Go where Rico works sells one of two winning tickets for a 212 million dollar jackpot. As time passes and the ticket goes unclaimed, Rico is positive that she knows who bought it and is determined to track the kind woman down. After a chance encounter with computer whiz Zan Macklin, one of the richest guys at school, the duo band together to follow the mystery woman's trail, discover their different attitudes about life, bond over their biracial identities and complicated family relationships, and start to fall for each other. Chapters with inanimate objects' point of view are interspersed into the first-person narration, giving clues to the plot and levity to serious topics of race, class, privilege, and poverty. While secondary characters could have been more fleshed out, Stone delivers a deftly constructed tale that is equal parts satisfying wish-fulfillment and light-handed lessons learned. VERDICT A must-purchase for teen collections of all sizes, this is a real winner.—Brittany Drehobl, Morton Grove Public Library, IL - Copyright 2019 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission.
