The fun and funny Heck: Where The Bad Kids Go series for ages 9 and up is a great pick for fans of Lemony Snicket or the School Is A Nightmare series. This series blends elements of Dante’s Inferno and Faust in a kid-friendly, hilarious romp.
Heck: Where the Bad Kids Go (4/5 stars, currently priced at $5.98)
WHEN MILTON AND Marlo Fauster die in a marshmallow bear explosion, they get sent straight to Heck, an otherworldly reform school. Milton can understand why his kleptomaniac sister is here, but Milton is—or was—a model citizen.
Has a mistake been made? Not according to Bea “Elsa” Bubb, the Principal of Darkness. She doesn’t make mistakes. She personally sees to it that Heck—–whether it be home-ec class with Lizzie Borden, ethics with Richard Nixon, or gym with Blackbeard the Pirate—–is especially, well, heckish for the Fausters.
Will Milton and Marlo find a way to escape? Or are they stuck here for all eternity, or until they turn 18, whichever comes first?
Rapacia: The Second Circle of Heck (4/5 stars, currently priced at $5.98)
In the second installment of the popular series, Heck, Dale E. Basye takes Milton and Marlo Fauster on a journey that is as clever, as laugh-out-loud funny, and as satisfying as the first.
Welcome to Rapacia, where the greedy kids go . . .
When Milton escapes from Heck in a soul balloon made of old clothes, Marlo is the only Fauster child left to take the blame. Bea “Elsa” Bubb, the Principal of Darkness, sends her straight to Rapacia, the circle where greedy kids are tormented by glimpses of a just-out-of-reach, glittering shopper’s paradise called Mallvana. Marlo soon falls under the sway of Rapacia’s assistant principal, a grinning metal rabbit known as the Grabbit that seems to have plans of its own.
Meanwhile, back on the Surface, Milton has his own problems. He is determined to get in touch with Marlo and help her find a way out of Heck. But it’s hard to concentrate when his body and soul don’t seem to hold together the way they used to. Will Milton ever reach Marlo? And if he does, will they both end up as pawns in the Grabbit’s mysterious game?
Blimpo: The Third Circle of Heck (4.5/5 stars, currently priced at $5.99)
With more clever, dark humor and zany silliness, Dale E. Basye sends Milton and Marlo Fauster back for thirds in another laugh-out-loud installment of the popular series Heck.
After his second escape from Bea “Elsa” Bubb, the Principal of Darkness, Milton Fauster makes his way to Blimpo—the circle of the otherworldly reform school, Heck, where he’s sure his friend Virgil is sentenced. Virgil’s only crime is being, well, plump. Milton has to wonder if that’s really enough to justify eternal darnation. And what Milton finds in Blimpo horrifies him. The overweight dead kids spend most of their time running on giant human hamster wheels called DREADmills that detect and exploit their deepest fears. The rest they spend eating Hambone Hank’s barbecue—mystery meat that is delicious, but suspiciously (to Milton, anyway) haunting. Every classroom has a huge TV screen showing happy thin people who taunt Blimpo residents with a perfection they will never attain.
Meanwhile, at her new job in the devil’s Infernship program, Milton’s sister, Marlo, knows all about trying to achieve perfection. And failing miserably. Can Milton get himself and Virgil out of Blimpo in time to rescue Marlo, too? Or is Fauster the next delicacy on Bea “Elsa” Bubb’s menu?
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