Johnny Swanson
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2.5 • 2 Ratings
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- $4.99
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- $4.99
Publisher Description
The secret to instant height? Stand on a box.
Want to make your money go further? Roll it down a hill.
The answer to smelly feet? Wear a clothes pin on your nose.
Eleven-year-old Johnny Swanson is in business. He's raking in the money with his advertising scams and his advice columnist persona, who offers advice on absolutely anything in return for a shilling. But his money-making schemes are getting him in too deep with the wrong kinds of people. Everything is spiralling out of control, and now his own mother is in mortal danger. There's only one thing to be done: Johnny must assume another role as undercover detective!
In the spirit of Roald Dahl, this is a funny and delightful story with a satisfying mystery, a wonderful cast of characters, and an unlikely but completely likeable hero.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Updale (the Montmorency books) returns to historical England in a compelling tale set in 1929, which begins with mail fraud, but soon evolves into murder. Johnny is neither wealthy nor tall, so when he steals from his mother's Christmas money to mail away for the "Secret of Instant Height," he's not pleased by a response instructing him to "Stand on a box." Instead of seeking revenge, he sees an opportunity and starts placing fraudulent ads of his own, hiding his actions from his widowed mother, Winnie, and his boss at the post office, Hutch. When Winnie's employer, tuberculosis researcher Dr. Langford, is murdered, she's framed for the crime, and Johnny may be the only person who can save her. Updale spins an enjoyable tale, seamlessly mixing the humor of Johnny's fraudulent ads ("Get into Films did well.... For a shilling Johnny told them to Go to the Cinema") with the seriousness of medical fraud and murder, as well as painting a fascinating picture of an England that is just starting to forget the sacrifices made by WWI soldiers. Ages 8 12.
