Book Review: Shifty by Lynn E. Hazen

Shifty
by Lynn E. Hazen
Non-series

Tricycle Press
ISBN-10: 1-58246-257-7
ISBN-13: 978-1-58246-257-8
Publication Date: March, 2010
List Price: $7.99

Review: Most people believe that crime is a bad thing. In the book Shifty, by Lynn E. Hazen, the main character Soli, and his foster mother Martha, have illegal secrets that they keep from each other. Soli and his foster sister Sissy learn a whole new meaning of relationships when Soli has to take care of Sissy. In Shifty, Soli does whatever he can to help his foster family survive. A shifty person, a.k.a. Soli, wants to know the truth about his natural family.

Soli, age 15, has already been to juvie, but suddenly his life takes an unexpected turn when he finds himself at Martha’s house. Two other foster kids also come to live with Martha. One of Soli’s adventures is when he is at a store, and he sees a random lady and says that she is his grandma to avoid getting a ticket. Sissy, Chance (the two other foster kids), and Soli go around getting into mischief. Martha has a nervous breakdown and has to go to the hospital and Soli has to take care of “his grandma’s” cat. Shelia-not-Shelly is always trying to get Martha’s house under police watch, and an old guy gets Soli into a ton of trouble when Soli tries to help “his grandma”. On the bright side, Soli gets a new job that involves parking cars at a restaurant and helps Sissy meet new people with the help of a surprising invitation. But an unexpected call makes for a troubled family. Will Martha be able to continue living in her house? Or has it been a coincidence that Soli and Sissy just happened to meet each other? You need to read the book to find out.

This book has made me want to read it over and over again. It is very exciting and each chapter leads into the next chapter. On a scale from 1 to 10, this book deserves a 9 because Soli and Sissy get into a lot of trouble, but always manage to escape it. The only bad part is when the author doesn’t explain why Soli does the things he does. Shifty is a great book to read if you are between the ages 7-14, or if you like to read about a kid who always gets himself into trouble. But the absolute best part is the first page when Soli receives a ticket for parking in a bus zone and when Martha asks him why he got the ticket. Soli replies, “I was hungry”. Read this book and you will get the same excitement as me when you read it. Soli won’t be too shifty in the future if he finds a new home.

Review written by Adam (6th grade student).

We would like to thank Tricycle Press for providing a copy of Shifty for this review.

Have you read Shifty? How would you rate it?