Zoobreak

Zoobreak is the second book in the Swindle series, preceded by Swindle. Swindle features the same cast of children on their first heist. In Swindle, Griffin and Ben spend the night in an abandoned building to protest it being torn down to build a history museum rather than the skatepark Griffin proposed at a town meeting. While there, they find a Babe Ruth baseball card. Wanting to end his family’s financial trouble, Griffin sells the card to local shop owner S. Wendell, whom Griffin begins to call “Swindle” because the man cheats Griffin. When Griffin realizes he was tricked, he, Ben, and the other children in Zoobreak steal the card, using their individual talents as they do in the follow-up novel. Eventually, Griffin is linked to the theft, and the baseball card ends up in the hands of Darren’s family, who sell it and donate the proceeds to the town to build both the museum and a skatepark.

As in Zoobreak, Swindle features children at the mercy of the adults in their lives. Griffin is tricked by S. Wendell because the man is a shady character. Griffin’s limited life experience hasn’t prepared him for the dishonesty of some adults, and the lessons he learns in Swindle carry forward into Zoobreak, where Griffin recognizes