Family movie night? There's an app for that
Download our new mobile app on iOS and Android.
The Wish List
By Matt Berman,
Common Sense Media Reviewer
Common Sense Media Reviewers
Wicked is the key word here, in all its senses.
Add your rating
A Lot or a Little?
What you will—and won't—find in this book.
Where to Read
Community Reviews
Based on 2 parent reviews
Scary
what are all these parents saying?
What's the Story?
Meg Finn's short life has been a mess. Her mother is dead, her stepfather abusive, and she has fallen in with the wrong people and turned petty delinquent. But when a burglary goes wrong she and Belch, the brutal moron who talked her into it, are killed. Belch, merged with his pet pit bull, goes straight to Hell, but Meg, whose good and bad deeds are perfectly balanced, is sent back to atone and tip the balance by helping the old man, Lowrie McCall, whom they tried to rob.
Lowrie is a dying old curmudgeon who has a list of things he wants to do before he dies, and it's Meg's job to help him succeed. But Beelzebub, on orders from the Devil, sends Belch, armed with a nasty computer chip in what's left of his brain, to make sure she fails. But even without his interference her trip may not get her through \"the Pearlies:\" almost everything Lowrie wants to do is illegal, and Meg still wants revenge on her stepfather.
Is It Any Good?
Eoin Colfer knows how to grab his readers: The first 10 pages contain a robbery, a pit bull attack, a shooting, and the death of the two main characters in a fiery explosion. And he knows how to hold them, with a combination of action, B-movie cliche, black humor, and gritty, muscular prose that hints at more violence than it actually reveals. It's no wonder he's the darling of the video-game generation. Reluctant readers and avid ones all enjoy his books, and with good reason.
Wicked is the key word here, in all its senses. It describes Colfer's humor, his no-kid-gloves approach to his readers, and, quite literally, the plot. He manages here a view of the afterlife that is cynically funny without being out-and-out blasphemous (and least to this reviewer) and makes a weird kind of sense to boot. While this book lacks anyone quite as funny as Foaly in the Artemis Fowl books, it makes up for it with a bit more heart -- nothing soppy, of course, this is a Eoin Colfer book after all, but just the hint of a warm glow in the testy developing relationship between a crusty old never-was and a hardened little never-will-be. Colfer may talk tough and mean to thrill his audience, but it's just possible he has a heart of mush.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about the author's view of the afterlife. What are his beliefs? Do they differ from your own beliefs?
Book Details
- Author: Eoin Colfer
- Genre: Fantasy
- Book type: Fiction
- Publisher: Hyperion Books for Children
- Publication date: November 17, 2003
- Publisher's recommended age(s): 10 - 14
- Number of pages: 252
- Last updated: July 12, 2017
Did we miss something on diversity?
Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.
Suggest an Update
Where to Read
Common Sense Media's unbiased ratings are created by expert reviewers and aren't influenced by the product's creators or by any of our funders, affiliates, or partners.
See how we rate