Skip to main content
PBS logo
 
 

Book Reviews of Heck: Where the Bad Kids Go (Circles of Heck)

Heck: Where the Bad Kids Go (Circles of Heck)
Heck Where the Bad Kids Go - Circles of Heck
Author: Dale E. Basye
ISBN-13: 9780375840760
ISBN-10: 0375840761
Publication Date: 4/28/2009
Pages: 304
Edition: Reprint
Reading Level: Ages 9-12
Rating:
  • Currently 3.1/5 Stars.
 17

3.1 stars, based on 17 ratings
Publisher: Yearling
Book Type: Paperback
Reviews: Amazon | Write a Review

3 Book Reviews submitted by our Members...sorted by voted most helpful

Chocoholic avatar reviewed Heck: Where the Bad Kids Go (Circles of Heck) on + 291 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 3
Highly imaginative children's story about a brother and sister who are sent to Heck, a sort of children's version of the afterlife. In Heck, ethics classes are taught by Richard Nixon, Home economics by Lizzie Borden, and Bea "Elsa" Bubb is the principal in charge, along with her little dog, Cereberus. This is the first in a series of 9 books, I believe and is highly enjoyable for both children and adults....there are many jokes here that adults will find humorous but kids might not get.
reviewed Heck: Where the Bad Kids Go (Circles of Heck) on
Helpful Score: 1
Rating based on what my 11-year old son says: "This book is funny and fun to read. I liked it a lot, but it's not the best book I've ever read, so I'd give it 3-1/2 stars"
GeniusJen avatar reviewed Heck: Where the Bad Kids Go (Circles of Heck) on + 5322 more book reviews
Reviewed by Rebecca Wells for TeensReadToo.com

When Milton and Marlo Fauster die in a marshmallow bear explosion, they are sent not to Heaven or Hell, but instead to Heck, an otherworldly reform school for "bad kids." There, they must toil until they turn eighteen, at which point their souls will be reevaluated and sent on. Though Marlo, a teenager with an unfortunate case of kleptomania, clearly belongs in Heck, the siblings are at a loss to understand why Milton is there as well - he has always been a model citizen.

Could there possibly have been a mistake?

The authorities claim otherwise, and so Milton and Marlo are forced to endure such classes as ethics with Robert Nixon and gym with Blackbeard the pirate as they plot their way out of Heck. But will these intrepid siblings discover a way to escape, or will they be forced to stay in this thoroughly heckish place forever?

HECK: WHERE THE BAD KIDS GO is a book that will appeal to everyone still a child at heart. The narration flows smoothly with a thoroughly engaging voice, and the landscape of Heck is funny and inventive; it is a world where children are forced to eat their way out of rooms as punishment, where candy can glue mouths shut, and where good dreams are strictly prohibited.

Dale E. Basye takes the reader on a nonstop adventure that is sometimes touching, sometimes disgusting in the best of gleeful ways, and at all times captivatingly entertaining.