MR. GRIEVES AND THE GRIEVOUS DEEDS

What does it mean to be a good kid?

Twelve-year-old Victoria Gray dresses neatly, achieves academic excellence, and dreams of acing the interview for admission to the Wheaton Preparatory Academy for Exceptional Individuals. Her anthropologist mother, Anna Zarathustra Gray, wrote BE GOOD (or Becoming Excellent; Guidelines for Optimizing Offspring Development), the authoritative guide to raising a well-behaved child. But after a fateful accident, Anna takes off, leaving Victoria and little brother Ozzy with their father. Struggling under the weight of single fatherhood, Victoria’s dad sets out to hire a nanny, and soon the bowler-hatted Mister Grieves arrives. Grieves thrives on chaos and disarray, immediately throwing Victoria’s orderly existence out of orbit. Accompanied by his capuchin monkey companion, Kevin, he whisks the kids on an amazing race against time (in a memorable flying van named Nadine and accompanied by a gang of biker librarians) to thwart a group known as The Service. They’re out to acquire the Three Totems, magical items that Grieves believes will bring Anna back. Soon Grieves’ unconventional methods give Victoria pause: Is there really only one way to be good? Reading like the love child of Mary Poppins and Beetlejuice, Lieberman’s rollicking romp is a sheer delight, with its short, swiftly paced chapters, cleverly kooky escapades, and an exploration of good vs. bad that’s sure to make readers stop and think. Main characters read white.

Being bad may never again feel so good.