I find these books very clever and entertaining. A retelling of Dante's inferno with kids, each book is a separate ring of "Heck." The first is when the Marlo and Milton first arrive in heck, the second is greed and the third, gluttony. Book 4, due out next May, called Fibble, is clearly about lying. Each follows the adventures of Milton Fauster and his sister Marlo and their friends as they work their way through Heck, a boarding school run by Bea Elsa Bubb. You call tell from these names that the author is speaking just as much to the adults reading these books as to the children, who will be surprised as they grow up of all they learned about the literary traditions of Hell from these. Milton's best friend is Virgil (of course) and there is Marlo(we) (another author of a Faust book). Teachers include Lizzie Borden and Nixon, who amusingly teaches ethics. Most of these allusions go right over the kids' heads, but once I pointed them out to Colin, he started to find them himself and thought it hilarious that the book would take such liberty with literature. What I read with him was hilarious and well put together. An entertaining take on classic literature.
Various recommendations for grades, from 3-8, I would go for the midrange of these 4-6. Colin has been reading them voraciously and am sure will leap at the new one in the spring. AR Levels 6.0-6.4, 8-14 pts.
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