Here Comes Trouble by Kate Hattemer
Published by Knopf Books for Young Readers on May 1st 2018
ISBN: 1524718467
Pages: 320
Goodreads

Soren Skaar is a master prankster.  His exploits in his Minnesota elementary school are legendary.  Soren is at the top of his game and then the unthinkable happens.  His partner-in-crime and best friend Alex moves away at the same time that Soren’s New York City-slicker cousin Flynn comes to live with Soren’s family for a year.  Completely adrift without Alex, Soren starts the school year in a funk, only made worse when Flynn becomes instantly well-liked and popular. Even Soren’s two-year old tyrant of a brother Ivan loves Flynn.  While video chatting with Alex and reliving past glories, Alex suggests that Soren find a new pranking partner. Soren’s neighbors and classmates, triplet girls, are quickly enlisted and the practical jokes are once again underway.  Mix in hilarious dialogue among the Skaar parents, Ivan the Terrible’s epic outbursts, Soren’s sassy sister Ruth and her min pig Jim Bob and a homicidal rooster named Martha and you have all the makings for a middle grade book full of humor and heart.  Through it all, Soren learns that pranking has its time and place and that sometimes playing it straight can be more rewarding than a roomful of laughs.

Reviewed by Suzanne Dix, Westbrook Middle School, Westbrook