Bad Luck (Bad Books #2)

Gr 4-6—This second installment in the series picks up just about where Bad Magic (Little, Brown, 2014) left off: with sixth-grader Clay at Earth Ranch, an island camp for delinquent youth that is really a camp for kids with magical talents. This time around, readers also meet Brett, the precocious son of a billionaire-cum-cruise ship owner—and Brett has just discovered that his father may be in the midst of some dastardly scheme. Brett ends up washed ashore on the island housing Earth Ranch, and almost as soon as Clay finds and helps him, strange—well, stranger—things start to happen on the island. This second volume has plenty of Bosch's signature cheekiness and footnotes, and it's chock-full of intrigue, danger, secret missions, betrayal, a magical library within a library, and a creature straight from legend. Longtime Bosch fans will be thrilled at the reappearance of characters from his "Secret Series" (Little, Brown), but the good fun and solid adventure will delight new readers just the same. VERDICT An excellent addition to middle grade collections.—Amy Koester, Learning Experiences Department, Skokie PL