The Underdogs of Tarzan
(2023)(The second book in the Poor Little Rich Kids series)
A novel by Andrew Anžur Clement
Fifteen-year-old Svetlana Williamson doesn’t want to be at a boring summer camp on the Slovenia/Croatia border. She and her brother, Sasha, would rather be at the ice rink in their hometown of Plovdiv, Bulgaria, chasing their dreams of Olympic gold. Hoping it’s an opportunity for the two teens to branch out, their adoptive parents send them anyway.
The most popular activity among the young campers: swinging Tarzan-style from a tree into the Kolpa River. By day, it’s harmless fun. By night, it’s a brutal competition with a mysterious scoring system that allows the winners to punish the losers.
With their spinning and jumping skills, the two young skaters easily earn the highest scores. Only then do they learn that the Tarzan game is the gateway to a sinister world of drugs, sex and migrant smuggling. Popularity, not athletic ability, may be the secret to survival.
Svetlana is willing to risk everything to become one of the “cool kids” for the first time in her life. But the once-homeless girl will also stop at nothing to protect Sasha and their bright future as the adopted kids of a wealthy family – and rising stars of the figure skating world.
Sasha must also battle the memory of seeing his Ukrainian family slaughtered. A half-remembered moment may hold the key to unlocking the game’s scoring system. But can he survive the vicious bullying the losers must endure long enough to crack the code?
In over their heads, the two Poor Little Rich Kids must choose which side they’re really on and outwit the traitor in their midst to find their way home.
Warning: The Underdogs of Tarzan contains extensive profanity as well as depictions of drug use and heavily implied sex.
Genre: Literary Fiction
The most popular activity among the young campers: swinging Tarzan-style from a tree into the Kolpa River. By day, it’s harmless fun. By night, it’s a brutal competition with a mysterious scoring system that allows the winners to punish the losers.
With their spinning and jumping skills, the two young skaters easily earn the highest scores. Only then do they learn that the Tarzan game is the gateway to a sinister world of drugs, sex and migrant smuggling. Popularity, not athletic ability, may be the secret to survival.
Svetlana is willing to risk everything to become one of the “cool kids” for the first time in her life. But the once-homeless girl will also stop at nothing to protect Sasha and their bright future as the adopted kids of a wealthy family – and rising stars of the figure skating world.
Sasha must also battle the memory of seeing his Ukrainian family slaughtered. A half-remembered moment may hold the key to unlocking the game’s scoring system. But can he survive the vicious bullying the losers must endure long enough to crack the code?
In over their heads, the two Poor Little Rich Kids must choose which side they’re really on and outwit the traitor in their midst to find their way home.
Warning: The Underdogs of Tarzan contains extensive profanity as well as depictions of drug use and heavily implied sex.
Genre: Literary Fiction
Used availability for Andrew Anzur Clement's The Underdogs of Tarzan