Second to None

Howell, Destiny. Second to None
October 15, 2024 by Scholastic Press
E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus

D.J. has a crew who can be hired to do whatever needs to be done; when Siena Chase's sister gets sick and the unreasonable Mr. Kind won't give her more time to take a math test, he puts his people in place to arrange a plausible way for the teacher to lose the test, since his policy is to give 100% to anyone whose paper is lost. He has Monty for muscle, his best friend Conor, and Audrey (on whom he has a bit of a crush), for the "face". His nemesis is Lucky, who runs a lotto and lends money, but Lucky broke his leg in a skiing accident and Mariposa is now running the show. One of the worst things that can happen at Ella Fitzgerald Middle School is to be mentioned on the announcements as a "Rocket Booster", and Lucky's group is able to make this happen due to their office connections; D.J. had to mastermind stealing tickets from the local Starcade to pay off Conor's debt to Lucky to avoid this fate. D.J. gets client referrals, as well as office passes, from David, who is a peer counselor, and is wary of the "Space Cadets" who are office helpers but often serve as spies. D.J., who had a scheme go badly wrong at his old school, is dismayed when a former classmate shows up at his new school, and when he finds broken number one pencils circulating in the school, he feels like something is afoot. His investigation uncovers a lot of the seedy underbelly of competition, tainting everything from the illegal gaming in the computer lab to scandals with the spelling bee and the art contest. When Choi, the local purveyor of black market candy is busted and Royce moves in, D.J. finds out that there is a group called the BPS behind these things. Is Mariposa running it? With the annual Snow Princess competition on the line, D.J. and his associates work together with Mariposa to find out who is really rigging contests across the school and unseating students who are usually number one. 

Strengths: It's hard to find humorous books for middle grade readers, and this certainly had a lot of funny circumstances. D.J. is a well meaning kid who has a Robin Hood kind of attitude when dealing with his classmates, and tries to fight on the side of good. I loved the idea that there was a group that could arrange somehow for the underdogs to take first place in various competitions; it's so true that chairs in band, team captains, and other positions are often fought over by the same couple of kids. The cover on this is great and will remind readers of Gordon Korman books. 
Weaknesses: This requires a LOT of suspension of disbelief. While I was a hall monitor in middle school, I've not seen one since, and there's no way that a student would be able to issue a pass to get another student out of class. Still, all in the name of a good grade level appropriate heist novel. This is a little on the long side. 
What I really think: This is a good choice for readers who liked this author's High Score, or other Donald Westlake knock offs like Rylander's The Fourth Stall, Ferraiolo's The Big Splash or Johnson's The Great Greene Heist.