Jake BurtCritiques

Very nearly a five-star book for me. My only criticism is that some of the action sequences and logistics were confusing.

Representation: N/A
Trigger warnings: Near-death experience, death, dead bodies
Score: Seven points out of ten.
This review can also be found on The StoryGraph.

This book was part of the library reading challenge of the month. The goals were to read a poetry book, a graphic novel and a horror book. This meets the third goal.
After I read this book, I completed the challenge for the month, but after reading another horror book called What We All Saw, the novel left me disturbed! Not reading that again, and not to mention I gave that story two stars, but considering that this isn't a young adult novel, I thought the horror would be toned down. I was right, and other than one terrifying scene and some dead bodies (repulsive in their own right,) this was only an okay book I could push through without much struggle. As far as I know, this is the only book the library has from this author, so I can't say if his other books are good. It starts with the main character, Copper (like the element copper and not Cooper?) Inskeep, or Copper for short, lives in whatever's left of Windydown Vale. The entire storyline is slow-paced at best and forgettable at worst since after the inciting event where the Ghoul scared a city girl, Annabelle, the first few hundred pages didn't have anything much happening since the book was too occupied in describing Copper's life. The other characters weren't that much better since I struggled to connect to them, the ending was, as I said before, disturbing but at least there's a high note.

Recommended Ages: Gr. 6-8

Plot Summary: Nicki is living in an orphanage and has been for a long time. She is shocked to have an opportunity to join a family, but she's not allowed to know anything about them unless she agrees to it. This isn't a normal foster care or adoption situation. The family is in the witness protection system, which means they're hiding from dangerous people. The government is trying their best to protect them, which in this case, means adding a second child to the family to throw off the people looking for them. Nicki makes a pretty quick decision, even though it means leaving her friends at the orphanage without saying goodbye, going through a whole lot of training for her new role as a family undercover, changing her name, and living a lie. Will all of her efforts protect her and her new family?

Setting: Durham, North Carolina

Characters:
Charlotte - 13 year old, orphan, sassy, type A personality often but not always, has a history of stealing
Janice - person in charge of making sure Charlotte is ready for her new role and serves as her point person once she's with the family
Harriet - new mom, born into a mafia family and turns them in, loving, open to change
Jonathan - new dad
Jackson Trevor - new brother, sour about all the changes, doesn't want to leave his old life and friends
Nancie - neighbor, very chatty and open in an embarrassing way to her daughter
Brit - Nancie's daughter, loves online gaming, in gaming competitions, Charlotte's friend

Recurring Themes: identity, orphan, orphanage, family, love, disappointment, danger, doing the right thing, moral dilemmas

Controversial Issues:
reference to Hunger Games
pg 58 - hell

Personal Thoughts: I wasn't sure about this book when I picked it up but it was fabulous. Just the right amount of character development and action. I do not believe it is for elementary students, however. The idea of being chased by the mafia is terrifying. The reference to Hunger Games also made me think this book is written for junior high.

Genre: action/adventure

Pacing: fast, suspenseful
Characters: decent amount
Frame:
Storyline:

Activity:

Thanks to years in foster care making her tough and street smart, Nicki Demere is asked by the U.S. Marshals to join a family of three that needs to be protected from their criminal family, camouflaging them as a family of four. As Charlotte Trevor, she does what she can to help protect her new family while also being the most average student possible. But before long, all of the Trevors learn how difficult it can be to outrun one’s past.

I don’t know why it’s so much harder to figure out how to start a review when I like a book than it is when I dislike a book. I guess because it just doesn’t seem good enough to start out with, “This book is great!” But this one really is. I don’t know how plausible the premise is, but the author sure made it seem realistic, considering that Nicki isn’t the only kid tapped for “Project Family.” From the orphanage to training with the Marshals and finally to her new home, Nicki makes an impression with everyone along the way. I didn’t always feel like her voice was all that realistic to a 13-year-old, but on the other hand, her rough history makes her anything but average. And the way her past affects her in the present was written well and adds to her being quite the sympathetic protagonist.

There were some things about this book that were predictable (at least for me, reading it as an adult) but at least one thing that happened that I did not expect at all. Throw in few emotional moments, a style that’s easy to read, and suspense built in the form of brief mentions of the criminals trying to track down the hidden family, and it’s easy to see why this book hooked me. There were even several laugh-out-loud moments here and there. I read this at the same time that my 13-year-old daughter did, and she loved it too. She agrees that it was suspenseful and thrilling. High endorsement from the target audience!

Cool. A little confusing because Cleo is supposed to have a large head of curly hair but cover does not reflect that. Really original, and I found it really hit home after our pandemic experiences -- both the weirdness of sudden human adaptability (all inside, all the time) and the loss of innocence that accompanies a great quest, whatever motivates it. Really well targeted for upper elementary/ young middle grade readers -- post apocalyptic can be very dark very fast, but this has a certain level of gentleness to it, with the bigger looming themes in the background. I end up with lots of questions, (for instance, do families really never meet again once a child leaves to start a family? Are there limits on childbirth? Who makes all the things that people need? Who maintains the drones?) but I found the book very interesting.

Addison and Devin have always been best friends for many reasons, but the biggest one is that Devin is always around when Addison freezes. Addison can't seem to talk to anyone but his closest friends and relatives and always freezes when he is put into a situation where he has to talk to someone else. Devin continually bails him out by covering for him, but when Devin's father gets sick, and he comes up with harebrained schemes to raise money to help with hospital bills, Devin enlists the help of Addison who goes along even though he thinks the ideas are ridiculous.

The Right Hook of Devin Velma is a funny, poignant look at anxiety and friendship. The characters of Addison and Devin are well developed, and the supporting characters offer light-hearted solace and understanding in a true to life setting filled with common real world problems. Easy answers are not supplied, but many of the situations are filled with touching family moments that underscore the importance of love and understanding. Burt includes authentic dialogue that is humorous and relatable. Overall, The Right Hook of Devin Velma is a gem of a story. 4 1/2 stars

After the death of her grandmother and with her father in prison, Nicki has been shuffled from foster home to foster home looking for someone who will accept her for what she is, a thief, specifically a pick-pocket. When the US Marshals create Project Family, Nicki is trained and chosen to move with a family into the Witness Protection Program (WITSEC) as their daughter. Elena, the family's mother has testified against her brother and they are now all in danger. Nicki becomes Charlotte and joins the Trevor family in North Carolina. What follows are funny, touching events that find Nicki/Charlotte trying to settle into her new life where she must maintain a B- average and remain as unobtrusive as possible, but Nicki has never been good at being unobtrusive.

Greetings From Witness Protection! is a fun coming-of-age story with some mystery, adventure and school hijinks thrown in. Nicki's character is well developed as are the other members of the family along with Nicki's best friend, Brit. Someone like Nicki could not have survived what she has unscathed, so her kleptomania adds depth and reality to her character. Overall, Greetings From Witness Protection! has characters that are easy to identify with and is a wonderful middle grade story.

Totally implausible plot. But totally fun read.

Picked it up by accident...Lucky me! A strong protagonist who could have easily slid into angry snark. Instead, she uses her own painful experiences to help her new fake family heal and become cohesive, makes a valuable friend and even gets her new angsty younger brother to get real. Plenty of action at the end, coupled with a surprise i didn't see coming. Altogether a very satisfying read.

Well written story, taking a girl from foster care and placing her in a family of 3 in Witness Protection, to make a family of 4, in order to hide the family better. Deals with loss (giving everything up that you've known), paralleling the many losses Nicki has had in her life, with those of the family entering WITSEC, but also has triumph over the bad guys written in towards the end.

What would you do if you were given the chance to help out a family in witness protection? In this novel, Nikki is given the chance to become a part of a family to help further disguise them into the witness protection program. No stranger to foster homes, Nikki does not have any family left at the start of this novel, after her grandma's passing and her father serving time in jail. The U.S. Marshals bring Nikki in for witness protection training, along with her new family, in order to help disguise this family of three (mom, dad, and a son) to become an average family of four. This family is in hiding from some really bad guys, and if they are looking for a family of three, a family of four is not on the bad guys' radar. Nikki and her new parents and brother move to a new state, start a new school, and mostly to the brother's disgust they are not alowed to be involved in any social media platform (Yes, that also means Facebook) or connect with old friends. The kids must maintain an average grade of a B-, and most importantly they cannot reveal anything from their past lives. With these new identities they are learning what it means to be a family, form new friendships, and how important it is to remain average. Will the bad guys ever find them? Only time will tell.

I think this would be a good book to recommend to kids who are looking for an interesting twist on family dynamics.

This books the story of Nikki, a girl growing up in foster care after the death of her Grammy. She is asked by witness protection to join a family that needs protection from the danger of their relatives after speaking at a court case against them. Nikki, now Charlotte, is not your average 7th grader, she is smart, brave, determined and a rather skilled pick-pocket. Over time she learns to love her new life and the people that are in it. For the first time she feels at home...until her mother’s family members show up to make that change. I found this book to be engaging and an interesting subject for the age group that it is meant for. I’m sure that there are kids that would be able to relate to many of the instances that Charlotte went through both at the foster care center and in Middle School. I did not, however, like the ending. I am left wanting to know more about Charlotte as her life continues with the Trevors. The ending seemed rush with all the action being quickly solved in the last 20 or so pages of the book. I did find the addition of Nikki’s father in the story to be intriguing and surprising. Overall an interesting read!

I'll be recommending this book highly to my 4th and 5th grade library students, but it's also a great read for adults. The tween voices are authentic. Nicki, narrator, is funny and quirky—and a kleptomaniac with incredible dexterity who has a phobia about anyone touching her hands. As a foster kid, she's tapped to help a family in the witness protection program. The bad guys are looking for a mom, dad, and son. They're not looking for a family with a daughter, too. We get glimpses of the bad guys getting closer and closer to finding them, but the focus is on the family dynamics, with Nicki (now Charlotte) and her new brother, Jackson (who is furious at having to leave everyone and everything he knew), trying to fit into a new school without attracting too much attention to themselves. Not to give anything away, but the end was both riveting and uplifting.

The marshals are looking for the perfect girl to join a mother, father, and son on the run from the nation’s most notorious criminals. After all, the bad guys are searching for a family with one kid, not two, and adding a streetwise girl who knows a little something about hiding things may be just what the marshals need.

Nicki swears she can keep the Trevor family safe, but to do so she’ll have to dodge hitmen, cyberbullies, and the specter of standardized testing, all while maintaining her marshal-mandated B-minus average. As she barely balances the responsibilities of her new identity, Nicki learns that the biggest threats to her family’s security might not lurk on the road from New York to North Carolina, but rather in her own past.

Literary Merit: Excellent
Characterization: Excellent
Recommended: highly recommended
Level: Middle Grades

This is a sweet middle-grade novel about family and friendship. Devin’s father is in the hospital after suffering a cardiac event - something that is an unfortunate common occurrence for the men in his family. With the help of his best friend Addison, Devin comes up with a larger-than-life plan to go viral and become famous. The pair’s plan doesn’t go how they intended, so Addison and Devin’s friendship is challenged in ways they never thought was possible.

In this story, author Jake Burt balances the laugh-out-loud funny with the sentimental serious really well. The characters are fantastically developed. The plot lines aren’t frivolous or left undone. This is truly a wonderful story that has been a fast favorite in our classroom library! One of my students was so excited about this book that he took it upon himself to email the author. This began a correspondence that my student will remember for years to come! Below is this student’s review.

STUDENT REVIEW:
I just got done reading the book The Right hook of Devin Velma. I have so many question for the author. I loved it! I am not usually a reader, but when I saw the first sentence I laughed. It just started by my teacher giving it to me and telling me I should read it. So I did and it was awesome. The curse tempted me to keep on reading. I read it any time I could; it was so cool. How did the author even come up with the DBMBBD? That was my favorite. And how the grandma is a prankster...WOW. I feel like the author should keep writing books about these characters. They are funny, adventurous, smart, and just plain awesome. But one thing I did not like was how all of the males died in Devin’s family. It was the curse, but at least the women survived. It was so nice for Devin and Addi to try and get money for the dad after his heart attack; I loved it. If the author were to write a part 2 were Devin gets the curse, I would read that one too. And bet you I will love it. I give this book 4.5 out of 5!

I think this is a great recommendation for a reluctant reader. It’s fast-paced and entertaining. The idea that someone without a family would be adopted by someone needing an extra family member for witness protection was an interesting one. I also like the snarky tough attitude of Nikki/Charlotte as she navigates through mean girls and other challenges. Finally, I found it very refreshing that she wasn’t dealing with a love interest anywhere in the book.½

This book took me by surprise. I honestly thought it would be a really cheesy middle grade book, and it is far from that.

Nicki Demere suffers from kleptomania and a long list of disappointments. She’s been in and out of foster homes ever since her thieving grandmother died and father stayed imprisoned. It isn't until the U.S. Marshals come to pick her up and take her into another world entirely, one where she can leave her old life behind and forge a new identity as Charlotte Trevor that she starts to find herself amidst a loving family. The family isn't perfect, but neither is she.

Here I learned the difference between foster care and being abused by the system; here I learned that Witness Protection is not just about hiding, it's about feeling safe in the process. Jake Burt did an incredible job at rounding out the character of Nicki Demere and her separation from Charlotte Trevor. Her closest friend, Brit, was a unique character and he even wrote her gaming status as normal - in a way - and differs himself from other authors who focus on gamers as these reclusive people incapable of human interaction or holding a conversation.

Something else I found interesting (and great) about this book is that he romanticized NOTHING. The thing about writing a disorder (or disease or mental illness, whatever it is) is that you have to make sure you aren't saying it’s fun or easy to have them. Burt went all in and delivered a flawless character - mind you, full of flaws - with a problem that isn't talked about much these days. Which is a lot to say when we live in a moment in time where others don’t take mental illnesses seriously.

Also, he wrote all of this in the point of view of A THIRTEEN YEAR OLD GIRL.

Plus, he managed to weave in an extensive Italian crime syndicate into the story. None of the whole... "Oh, we're in Witness Protection because we feel unsafe in our day to day lives. It's just how we are". No, they actually had a reason to hide. There are no actual ‘crime fighting’ scenes but Elena - or rather, Harriet – is mentioned as a hero because it was her decision to expose her criminal family that got them into the Witness Protection Program.
The interviews and court readings are well written as well and add a little mystery to this otherwise easy read. Which, by the way, I couldn’t put down until I was finished because it was that good.

Each character is memorable and I was left wanting more! There is a plot twist in the ending that rounded out any questions you might have had (I know I did) and it was just honestly one of those books you’ll come back to in a couple years wanting a movie, or something, on it.

I would definitely read this again if I was ever craving a book about family, forgiveness, and friendship. I trust this book with my youngest family members as much as I trust it with my oldest.

I wanted to read Greetings from Witness Protection! ever since I saw it featured in a webinar about upcoming middle grade titles and was thrilled when a box arrived at my library from School Library Journal with this book inside. I'm pleased to say the book did not disappoint.

I loved Nicki (or Charlotte) as a character, and I loved her story. Not only does she have a big role in keeping her adopted family safe, but she must navigate the ups and downs of middle school and all that comes with it, including friendship, mean girls, standardized tests, and a little brother. Her voice was funny and sarcastic, with a lot of heart hidden underneath. The main tension in the book comes from the question of whether or not the bad guys will find them, with just enough hints that their enemies are closing in to keep the stakes high and the story moving forward--but the best part of the book was the focus on Nicki's relationship with her new parents and brother, her absent father, and Nicki herself as she struggles to find where she belongs and who she really is beneath the lies and her circumstances. I would recommend this to all ages but I think it would especially appeal to younger readers, though the end scene is somewhat violent and the reality of Nicki and her family hiding from killers is serious. If you're looking for a fun middle grade book with humor and high stakes for yourself or your children/students, this is the book for you.