Review - Project Sweet Life
by Brent Hartinger
HarperTeen, 2009
Review by Amy Ridley
Nov 10th 2009 (Volume 13, Issue 46)

Dave's summer plans include hanging out with his best buddies Curtis and Victor every day, doing absolutely nothing. The boys figure it's their last summer before they have to get jobs. Their fathers drop the bomb on them just as vacation starts that all three of them are expected to get a job for the summer. The boys are stunned and not exactly thrilled with the idea of forfeiting their last summer of freedom.

Dave figures he'll get a job at the community pool since he knows his dad won't budge once he's made up his mind. Curtis comes up with Project Sweet Life where the boys will tell their parents that they got jobs but they'll actually hang out in their bomb shelter hangout just like they had originally planned. Victor and Dave don't think it's such a great idea since their dads are going to expect them to be earning real money and have cut off their allowances. Curtis doesn't see this as an obstacle. The boys will just have to come up with a onetime plan to earn the seven thousand dollars that they think they'll have to have by the end of the summer.

Once they have their “summer jobs” in place, their first money-making scheme looks like it's going to work out perfectly and earn them the money they need in order to fool their parents. Their plan goes disastrously wrong and the boys end up in debt. They have a few more schemes that will net their cash but they keep encountering obstacles that they couldn't have ever imagined. They find themselves up against robbers, crawling through hidden tunnels and making friends with some elderly ladies.

The ideas the boys come up with are a bit far-fetched but suspenseful and entertaining. The genuine friendship between the boys is obvious. Their banter and awkwardness in front of some girls that they are interested in endearing. Their devotion to one another is proven repeatedly, none more so than when they fear that their dads will discover their lies and not let them hang out together anymore.

The lies and elaborate planning start to take their toll on the boys and it becomes obvious that getting real summer jobs would have been the easiest thing they could have done. The harder they try to come up with the money, the more trouble they get in.

It is obvious that Hartinger has tremendous knowledge of the city of Tacoma. The history of the city that he sprinkles throughout the book makes the city the fourth character in the book. The history of the Chinese in the city is fascinating and adds a completely different element to the book. The history of the city is woven perfectly into the mystery the boys find themselves embroiled in. While the ending is a bit hard to believe, the boys remain likable throughout the book.

This is appropriate for ages 12 and up.

© 2009 Amy Ridley

Amy Ridley received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology from Boston University.