Rapacia

Rapacia by Dale E. Basye
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is the second book in the series and I can understand why kids like it so much. I was testing it as a Homeschool free reading book and I'm putting it on my list.

Milton has been returned to earth, but now he wants to go back to get his sister. In the meantime, his sister is doing just fine, in a manner of speaking. She uses skills as a con-artist, thief to work for her in Heck. The theme of this level of Heck is "greed." She is paired with the kind of girl she hated in school: rich, in-crowd, super consumer, haughty, and obnoxious spoiled brat. However, they are no match for her and neither is her nemesis principal, Bea "Elsa" Bubb.

The torment in this level of Heck is the enormous Mallvana, a shopper's paradise where everything is tantalizingly close, but always out of touch.

In the meantime, her brother, Milton, is having his share of problems. It seems like returning from Heck by chicken power has left his soul sort of fractured and subject to some alarming chicken-like moments.

Add to the mix an enormous metal rabbit called the Grabbit and a few new members of the Heck hierarchy, some wonderful puns and literary references and you can please most middle graders.

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