Faker by Gordon Korman (Scholastic, 224 pages, grades 3-7). Trey’s family–his father and his sister Arianna–have always been the most important people to him. They move from place to place, with their father planning a different scam in each new town, and Trey and Arianna making friends to provide Dad with connections. When people start to get suspicious, the family pulls a “Houdini,” leaving town in a hurry and hanging out at an island resort until things blow over and they can start their next scheme. But when they get to Boxelder, Tennessee, things feel different to Trey. He begins to form some real friendships, including one with a girl named Kaylee. Kaylee and her family live in the less affluent part of town, and when her father decides to invest in Trey’s dad’s latest get-rich-quick scheme, Trey is torn between loyalty to his family and guilt that Kaylee’s family will lose their life savings to his family, leaving him with some tough decisions to make.

Gordon Korman’s many fans will enjoy his latest, featuring a likable protagonist and a cast of other middle school kids who will seem familiar to readers. There’s plenty of humor, and Trey’s ethical dilemma could make for some interesting discussions. This is the second book I’ve read this year featuring a main character with an unrepentant criminal for a parent (although Trey’s father has a change of heart–sort of–at the end), which I’m finding is a premise that makes me a little uncomfortable.

Biggest Secret Ever! (Middle School and Other Disasters, book 3) by Wanda Coven, illustrated by Anna Abramskaya (Simon Spotlight, 352 pages, grades 3-7). Heidi Hecklebeck is back, having been promoted from her early chapter books series of a decade ago to a new middle school series. I missed the series start last year, so I read the latest, which is book 3. Heidi’s a student at Broomsfield Academy, a boarding school for both magical and non-magical students. The non-magical ones don’t know that some of the kids, like Heidi, are witches and wizards. Heidi’s working on learning to read people’s thoughts, which is her special gift, and also how to use magic to remedy emergency situations, which she seems to find herself in fairly frequently. When her new friend Isabelle confides to Heidi that she’s a princess but swears her to secrecy, Heidi’s not sure she can keep from sharing the secret. Her gossipy roommate Melanie guesses what it is, and Heidi has to try to use a spell to erase just the parts of Melanie’s brain that contain the secret. After a slight hiccup, Heidi succeeds, proving herself to be a loyal friend to Isabelle and a pretty good witch as well.

I’ve never read the Heidi Hecklebeck books, but this was a fun and light middle school tale with a bit of magic thrown in. The cover has a Dork Diaries vibe, and I imagine it would appeal to fans of that series. Inside, there are plenty of illustrations with a font that resembles handwriting and that varies in size so that some pages only have seven or eight sentences. Readers who may feel daunted by the 300+ page count will find it easier going than they may have expected. If you’re looking to get some good discussion going with this book, you might want to start by asking if you’d really want to be able to read other people’s minds.