Alan Gallauresi’s entertaining and brilliantly comic Young Adult crime novel stars Angelo - or Angel, as he prefers to be known - Bastillo and his two best friends, Drew Wales and Lionel “Porno Name” Tang (don’t ask!). Together they are the Heist School Freshmen of the title. The story explores their attempts to navigate the political and emotional minefield that is freshman year at their American high school. However, not only does Angelo have to cope with the normal teen drama - the two local bullies, a newly-broken heart and getting his homework in on time - but, following a hint of potentially unclaimed illicit proceeds, he also gets drawn into recruiting a group of high school oddballs to help him and his freshmen pull off an audacious raid. But, will they get away with it?!

I loved reading Heist School Freshmen; it is a lot of fun, fast moving and well written. It starts with a bang, keeps up a steady pace and includes a good crop of laugh-out-loud moments and intriguing but hilarious characters. Alan Gallauresi has created a modern heist story, with up to the minute pop-culture references, that manages to encapsulate perfectly the ups and downs and agony and elation of everyone’s school days. I enjoyed the book, even as a 30-ahem-year-old woman, and I imagine it would strongly appeal to both sexes of most ages, particularly those depicted in the story. I could also see it making a convincing translation to the TV or movie screen. I understand Gallauresi is currently working on a sequel and I look forward to reading it!

Heist School Freshmen by Alan Gallauresi is a story about Angelo and his best friend Drew leaving middle school and joining high school. They are hoping for a fresh start and a better social life, but nothing is going as planned. Then they befriend Lionel, which did not necessarily improve their social status, but gave them a good friend and a partner in crime. They found an abandoned phone that belonged to a convicted drug dealer and, from the messages on the phone, discovered that he hid away some money before going to jail. They solicited all the help they could get, and put plans together to find and steal the money. But they keep running into snags; plus they are not the only ones after that money. Can they overcome all their obstacles, including the police, and get to the money first? Is the money still there anyway?

Heist School Freshmen is about three normal boys. Along the way, they go through the usual high school life cycle of finding girls, throwing parties while their parents are out of town and lying to their parents, and all the other mischief of teenage high school boys. Alan Gallauresi delivered a good story with an interesting look at high school life. It is not about the usual high school 'popular kid' cliques or the miserable loners. Heist School Freshmen is an interesting take on high school life. It shows that there is more to high school than the usual mean popular kids and the loner band geeks.

In Heist School Freshmen, Angelo Bastillo’s high school life is by far a nightmare; his long time crush dumped him, he has to endure harassment from twin bullies, and he hates every single class. Living with a dysfunctional family and even forced to have a rather sporadic consultant through a suicide line, Angelo is struggling; that is until he and his friends stumble upon a stash of dirty money. Gathering his motley crew, all that Angelo needs next is a great, infallible plan for the heist. This exciting YA crime adventure is written by Alan Gallauresi.

The main strength of Heist School Freshmen, and what a delight it is to write these words, is the quality of the writing. Unquestionably Alan Gallauresi has a gift for storytelling; the ability to bring scenes vividly to life. Nowhere is this truer than of his well-structured plot and the teen characters that he has written. I could relate to one of the young characters, although I'd rather not say who, and this makes the reading much more thrilling. The heist that young Angelo and his friends work very hard to accomplish is infused with daunting and hilarious moments. This is not a lengthy novel, so it is a rather swift read. The ending is perfectly wrapped but I do see a promise for a sequel.

On the whole, this is the first, greatly well-accomplished YA novel that I have read this year - Heist School Freshmen is, without a doubt, destined to ensure that Alan Gallauresi does just that. Any YA readers should not overlook this one.

Heist School Freshmen is a young adult coming of age novel written by Alan Gallauresi. When the reader first meets Angelo, he's furiously pedaling his bike into a deserted park while swiping away tears. Angelo's gotten past middle school and spent the last three summer months dating his girlfriend Lissa, who's suddenly decided that he's not really what she wants after all. High school is looking pretty grim, and his father actually gives him the number of a teen suicide prevention line. He and his pal Drew are feeling a bit lost and isolated at school until they're approached by Lionel Tang, whose proficiency at making up porno names for movies convinces them to let him pal around with them. Things start to get even more interesting when Angelo finds an old cell-phone in his locker, which may have belonged to a drug-dealing student. Then Angelo overhears some talk about a stash of drug money that was never recovered, and plans for the heist begin to take shape.

I enjoy coming of age novels and was intrigued by the premise of Alan Gallauresi's young adult novel. I wasn't disappointed. Angelo, Drew, and Lionel are great characters, and the heist they set up is inspired. The team Angelo puts together becomes a close-knit circle of friends and, somehow, he meets the daunting challenges of being a freshman in high school with aplomb. There's a school play, lots of video gaming, high-tech gadgetry, girls, and even some cool interaction with geometry and English lit. Heist School Freshman is such a fun read -- it's upbeat and comic and serious all at once, and it does it all quite well.