Eleven-year-old Sam Brattle is going through tough times. His mom just remarried and his dad owns a bakery that is going through tough times. His town, Nickel Bay, is very economically depressed. Sam gets in with the wrong crowd and they do a lot of mischief. Eventually Sam gets caught not by the police but by Mr. Wells. Sam caused a lot of damage when doing his mischievous deeds, but Mr. Wells makes him deal. Nickel Bay Nick, who is the mysterious man who leaves hundred-dollar bills all around town for the citizens of the town to find. Unfortunately, this year Nickel Bay Nick did not appear and leave his kind gift around town. Sam makes a deal with Mr. Wells, and he is going to be this year’s version of Nickel Bay Nick between Christmas and January 6. The first couple of chapter of this book were hard to read. Sam was a very unlikeable character and reading the story as told by him was not pleasant at first. As the story goes on, Sam does become better and so does the story. The town of Nickel Bat reminded me a lot of my hometown, Butte, Montana. The town is very depressed and has seen its better days. The own also has several businesses and shops that are vacant and out of business, much like Butte. This book would be a good book about persevering and overcoming hard times. The boos I believe is very relatable to students in my hometown with the town being much the same.

A sweet, sad story about Sam Brattle as he struggles to cope with growing up. Sam battles with his father and has a distant mother who has recently remarried and has a new family now. Sam turns more and more toward a life of crime and rebellion, until one night as he runs from the police, he winds up at his mysterious neighbors house causing chaos and major damage. In order to work off the debt of the damages he caused, he is forced into restitution over Christmas break. It turns out to be more than Sam bargained for, and in exchange, Sam learns that things are not always as they seem. I loved this book! Very reminiscent to me of Gary Schmidt's Okay for Now, and Louis Sachar's Holes; stories of boys teetering on the edge of making a choice in life from which there is no turning back. ( )