Rapacia: The Second Circle of Heck
Grade 5–8—With her innocent and geeky younger brother Milton having been the first person ever to escape from Heck in the first book of this series, Marlo Fauster, a blue-haired, street-smart, 13-year-old shoplifter is punitively sent to the second circle of Heck, Rapacia. There, greedy dead kids are meant to endure suitable punishment by being torturously tantalized in Mallvana, a sprawling, shimmery showcase containing compelling consumer goodies they're doomed to achingly desire but never possess. As Marlo tries to figure out how to play Heck's ambitious administrators against one another and maximize her position in this underage underworld, Milton, back on the Earth's surface and uncomfortably undead, is trying to figure out how to, as his body and soul degrade, right himself so he can return to Heck to rejoin—and possibly save—his sister. Complete with a touching and instructive ending, this book is the second cornucopia of corny humor and creative characters in a series that seems destined to, Dante-style, drag readers through all nine levels of a hilariously imagined Heck. If so, librarians and parents might want to go along for this boisterous ride over the River Styx and share this series aloud as it unfolds; a good chunk of Basye's witty allusions reference 20th-century pop culture and are bound to tickle adult funny bones even more than they do those of middle-level readers.—Jeffrey Hastings, Highlander Way Middle School, Howell, MICopyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.