Heck: Where the Bad Kids Go, by Dale E. Basye

Teehee. This is a really cute little book. Do you remember watching your favorite shows as a kid and loving them, and then watching them again as an adult and going, "Wooooow. There are a lot of jokes in here that I would not have gotten all those years ago"? That is totally what this book is like. For example, when the kids get to Heck, after dying in a freak marshmallow explosion accident at the Mall of Generica in Kansas, Marlo says, "I don't think we're in Kansas anymore." Or when one of the many other dead kids in Heck realizes he's heard of his teacher, a Mr. R. Nixon, before, he says, "You're that crook from the history books!" Nixon's response? "I was NOT a crook!" There is a lot of that. It is mostly hilarious.

The story itself is iffy, but who needs it? Basically, the aforementioned flaming marshmallows land Marlo and Milton (oh, gosh, another pun: after Milton loses the dice off his ferret's collar, he puts up a sign reading "Milton's pair of dice: lost." It's terrible and awesome all at the same time) in Heck, where the bad kids go, until forever or their eighteenth birthdays. Marlo, a bad kid, is not really okay with this, but Milton, a very very good kid, is incredibly upset. After a few days of lame Heck school and lame Heck food, they decide to bust out, with the help of someone called Virgil, of course.

This is the first book in a series, but I probably won't read the rest unless I have a craving for delicious fluffy puns.

Rating: 7/10
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See also:
books i done read
Reading in Appalachia
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