Swindle (novel)


Swindle is a 2008 children's novel by Gordon Korman. It is a caper story about the retrieval of a valuable baseball card. The book was the first of a series, followed by Zoobreak, Framed!, Showoff, Hideout, Jackpot, Unleashed, and Jingle.

Plot

A smart, young boy named Griffin Bing decides to invite his entire class grade over for a sleepover in an old house about to be demolished after the town's plan for using as a new space in their town to make a skate park was thrown out because of their youth. However, on the night of the sleepover, only Griffin and his best friend Ben Slovak show up. Griffin finds a vintage baseball card. The card was a 1920 Babe Ruth trading card worth $974,000. S. Palomino, or Swindle as the boys call him stiffed them and gave Griffin only 120 dollars for the card. Griffin gave half to Ben. The boys attempt to steal the card from a safe in Palomino's shop, but it has been moved. After discovering that it is in his house, they group up with a few other people and decide to steal the card back in an elaborate heist. They steal the card, but leave a little evidence to their identity, and they are caught. However, news of Swindle's swindling comes out in the newspaper, and he does not press charges-instead, he moves out of town. The card goes on auction, selling for 974,000 dollars, with the money eventually going to a town museum and the skate park.

Film

A TV movie Swindle based on the novel was released on Nickelodeon in 2013.