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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
BLT Reviews, July 1, 2009
Summer jobs for fifteen year olds are optional, but for Dave, Curtis, and Victor, their dads have different ideas. They would do anything just to have one more free summer before they go to work....for the rest of their lives. Soon it's a race against time to collect $7,000 dollars before the end of the summer-and without lifting a finger.
With a daring plan, Mr. Moneybags, and some very bad luck, Dave, Curtis, and Victor embark on their last free summer and a quest find the money, even if it means lying to their parents and chasing bank robbers. Project Sweet Life is an exciting humorous story of friendship, adventure, and growing up.
****
When I first saw this book several months ago, I hesitated to read it (even though it sounded funny). Three guys ditching summers jobs and faking it just to spend one last "free" summer? What a bunch of slackers, right? As it turns out, Project Sweet Life is much more than that. Not only was it just hilarious, it was full of adventure which felt like reading a modern-day teenage Indiana-Jones episode. The three guys tried all kinds of ways to make $7,000 dollars fast (and legally); from a no-junk garage sale, to trying to catch some bank robbers, to hidden treasure. Dave, Curtis, and Victor could have succeeded in the first try, but they kept running into all sorts of bizarre roadblocks.
It was fun to read a book from a guy's point of view, Dave (the narrator) has a very clear, distinct voice and the book was just written so well. Chances are, you'll never forget this entertaining trio and their whacky plans. Project Sweet Life is a super fun book for anyone and has become one of my favorites!
About the Author
Brent Hartinger has been writing novels, plays, and screenplays for many years. Like the boys in Project Sweet Life, Brent also tried to weasel out of getting a job, but at age sixteen his parent's finally succeeded in making him get a job as a lifeguard. He lives in Washington state.
Genre: Realistic/contemporary, adventure
Age Group: YA, ages 12+
Content: None
Recommend? Yes
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Sweet indeed!, April 29, 2009
Project Sweet life is the story about fifteen year old Dave and his two best friends, Curtis and Victor. The day right before their summer vacation begins, their dads spring this crazy order on them, they have to get a job. They absolutely cannot have this! I mean they're only fifteen! They shouldn't have to work, besides they had everything planned out for the summer. Since they don't want this job thing ruining their vacation they decide to come up with the cash they would have made working all summer ($7,000 bucks to be exact) in a quick way so that they have the rest of the summer to do what they had been planning. Unfortunately, things don't go as planned.
I really liked this book. The story was very ...sweet. hehe It's basically about these three good friends going through an adventure. I absolutely love those kinds of stories and thankfully this book was just as good. It made me laugh out loud at times, gosh the things these kids think up! Hilarious. The three fellas were unfortunate enough to end up having bad luck in a bunch of the schemes they tried to make themselves rich quick. It was pretty fun to read about. I could easily picture this becoming a movie and trust me, I'd be one of the first to see it. :)
I loved the whole friendship subject, absolutely loved it! It's really great how each of the boys had their own funky personality but they were good together anyway, it's really cute. :)
A bunch of the schemes really seems like they would work and I was seriously thinking, "Whoa they make those seven grand that fast?" It really surprises you which is nice. Did I mention it was very funny? Gosh I just cracked up so much with the old lady part, you have no idea how much I laughed. Too funny.
The reason I didn't give this book a higher rating was because I didn't like a few things about it. I didn't like that the mother was so..weak. The husband seemed to be the one to always call the shots while the mother just sat there quitely and did nothing. I hated that VERY much. tsk tsk Another thing I didn't like was that sometimes the story got slow. Thankfully it didn't so much that I didn't enjoy the book but it still happened. If anything I'm sure younger readers will love it more than its intended audience; young adults. I would have given this four stars if it weren't for that.
[...]
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2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Richie's PIcks: PROJECT SWEET LIFE, February 22, 2009
"Somedays won't end ever, and somedays pass on by,
I'll be working here forever, at least until I die.
Dammed if you do, dammed if you don't
I'm supposed to get a raise next week, you know damn well I won't." -- Huey Lewis, "Working for a Living"
"I certainly understand that some people, even some fifteen-year-olds, need to work. They're saving for college, or they have to help pay bills around the house. For them, a summer job at fifteen isn't optional. But my dad makes a good living as a land surveyor. He wears silk ties! And my mom is stay-at-home. We aren't poor.
"The adults won't tell you this, but I absolutely knew it in my bones to be true: Once you take that first summer job, once you start working, you're then expected to keep working. For the rest of your life! Once you start, you can't stop, ever -- not until you retire or you die.
"Sure, I knew I'd have to take a job next summer. But now, I had two uninterrupted months of absolute freedom ahead of me -- two summer months of living life completely on my own terms. I knew they were probably my last two months of freedom for the next fifty years.
"The point is, dad or no dad, I was going to be taking a job the summer of my fifteenth year over my dead body."
Dave and his two buddies -- Curtis and Victor -- are sunk. Their fathers -- who all work and play together -- have been conversing about their sons and their sons' need to build character through summer jobs. But the three fifteen-year-old friends figure that there has got to be a way that they can use their heads and avoid spending the next ten weeks slaving away at minimum wage gigs. All they need to do, they reckon, is brainstorm a quick and effective way of accumulating roughly seven grand, split it three ways, pretend that they are heading off to work each day, and enjoy their summer in the manner in which it is supposed to be enjoyed. They dub their efforts "Project Sweet Life."
"One of the best things about a fictional job is that you can completely set your own hours. The hours I set for my 'lifeguarding job' were afternoons and evenings. That meant that I could sleep in every day of the week, and there was nothing my parents could do about it (except grumble continuously and bang pots and pans in the kitchen during breakfast, proving once and for all that adults are not necessarily any more mature than the teenagers they criticize).
Following the trio through their attempts to effect their monetary stimulus plan, we encounter a series of over-the-top money making schemes, some very evil bad guys, a double-crossing grandmother type, grand escapes, a paternal uncle who is the antithesis of Dave's dad, and some significant historical information about the underside of Tacoma Washington -- where the story is set and where author Brent Hartinger was raised. It all comes together exquisitely in a fast-paced, fun, and occasionally freaky tale on (and sometimes under) the streets and shores of Tacoma. In addition to all of the action, I especially love how Hartinger has thoroughly woven an important and unrecognized historical event into the heart of the story.
But the question remains: What WILL happen when the dads come looking for bank statements or insist on stopping by at work to see how it's going?
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