High Score - by Destiny Howell

About the Book

"Months after his last 'job' sparked unintended consequences, mastermind DJ ... [and] seventh grader ... is lying low at his new school, retired from a life of cons, heists, and schemes. That is, until his best friend and former partner-in-crime Conor transfers to be with him, and promptly runs afoul of the lottery kingpin who controls the school's underground economy of Starcade-brand arcade tickets. Now, DJ has two weeks to acquire 100,000 tickets, or both he and Conor will be 'rocket boosted'--socially disappeared. To achieve the impossible, DJ goes straight to the source, planning to lift the tickets from the Starcade itself by any means necessary. But even after he recruits actor Audrey Valentine and intimidating but soft-spoken Monty LaCroix to round out his new crew, it'll take every trick in the book to pull off a caper of this caliber"--Publishers Weekly (04/25/2022)

Book Synopsis

Oceans 11 goes to the arcade in this wildly entertaining heist adventure that is perfect for fans of Gordon Korman, Varian Johnson, and Celia Pérez.

We do this my way.

No one gets hurt.

And if I call it off, it's off.

Got it?

My name's Darius James--but everyone calls me DJ. At my old school, I was the go-to guy for all kinds of tricky problems that needed creative solutions. But at my new school, Ella Fitzgerald Middle, I'm just trying to blend in.

Well, I was, anyway, until my best friend, Conor, got himself transferred to the Fitz too. Now Conor owes 100,000 arcade tickets to the biggest bully around--and he only has two weeks to make it happen. Impossible? Not with my head in the game.

About the Author

Destiny Howell was born in Florida and decided to become a lawyer to learn all the rules before she quit to write novels about clever kids who break them. She currently lives in Tampa, Florida where she is pursuing an MFA in creative writing and trying to get together a weekly Dungeons & Dragons group (which is proving much trickier). Visit her at destinyhowell.com.