The Paradise Trap

Gr 4–7—Marcus is devastated when his mom, Holly, ruins his summer plans by buying a junky old trailer and taking him to her favorite childhood vacation spot, Diamond Beach. When they arrive, Holly runs into Coco, one of her friends from the old days, all grown up and married to a semi-famous inventor, Sterling Huckstepp. He has two kids: Newt, a sassy teen girl, and a younger boy, Edison. Their trailer is full of crazy inventions, including a bumbling robot, Prot. Then the boys find that Marcus's trailer has a cellar. When Edison opens the cellar door, it leads to a fantastic amusement park, and he doesn't want to leave. Marcus realizes that the cellar creates the personal dream vacation of whoever opens the door, only the vacation never, ever ends. He enlists the help of Prot, Newt, and the adults, which takes the action up a notch as they all fight to escape the trap, rescue Holly's missing childhood crush, and defeat the evil that is trying to destroy them. Readers will be anxious to get lost in this world of dreams, nightmares, and deception. Jinks deftly mixes mild horror with humor to give younger readers a few shivers and make older readers chuckle. Each dream/nightmare world sheds dramatic, sometimes touching, insight into the character whose hopes and fears created it, and the nonstop action will make for exciting read-alouds and booktalks. Completely absorbing and totally fun.—Mandy Laferriere, Fowler Middle School, Frisco, TX