The Great Greene Heist cover

The Great Greene Heist

by Varian Johnson

A middle-school crew rigs back an unfair election.

For you if

your kid already thinks rules are a puzzle to solve.

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Jackson Greene has retired from scheming, until the school election is rigged by a bully with a fixer and a spreadsheet. So he assembles a crew: a hacker, a fashion designer, a dancer with a lot of nerve. A middle-grade heist caper about winning with brains, in which the target is an unfair vote.

Where This Book Lives

Pass with note. Ages 8-12. The crew breaks rules, and the book celebrates it, which makes a good conversation starter about when that is fair. A Black-led cast, light and funny. No documented author concerns. Close relatives: Frindle and The Toothpaste Millionaire.

Related Viewing

Shares a topic, theme, or setting with this book in the catalog.

To Be and to Have (Être et avoir) poster

To Be and to Have (Être et avoir)(2002)

dir. Nicolas Philibert

Same themes: Community, Courage

One teacher, one room, ages four to eleven.

A year in a one-room village school in the Auvergne, France, where a single teacher, Georges Lopez, teaches children from four to eleven. Philibert watches without narration: a boy who won't write, a fight over a lost cap, a farm child learning to read. It became one of the biggest French documentaries ever.

Why it’s here: The film is a record of a teacher who lets time and mixed ages do much of the work. What's punk is the absence of rankings and tests, and that nothing happens except learning. What's pedagogical is how it shows a classroom without a screen, a mixed-age group and a patient adult. A quiet companion to The Class and Summerhill School. Note: Lopez sued the director in 2003 for a share of the profits and lost.

Where to watch: Free on Kanopy and Hoopla; Kino Film Collection $5.99/mo (JustWatch US, Oct 2026)Letterboxd ↗

Bend It Like Beckham poster

Bend It Like Beckham(2002)

dir. Gurinder Chadha

Same themes: Courage, Friendship

A Punjabi girl, a soccer ball, and a family wedding.

Jess is a British Punjabi eighteen-year-old in West London who plays soccer better than anyone in her park, and her parents want her to learn to cook a full Indian dinner. She joins a women's team behind their backs, falls for her coach, and has to find a way to be both daughters at once. It's a comedy with a wedding, an ugly sports bra and a lot of heart.

Why it’s here: The film makes a joke out of the fight between family expectations and a girl's ambition, and the girl wins on her own terms. What's punk is that Jess isn't asked to choose between her people and her game. What's pedagogical is how it handles racism, sexism and homophobia in a form a family can watch together. Pairs with Persepolis and Funny Boy.

Where to watch: Disney+; rent $3.99 on Amazon and Fandango At Home (JustWatch US)Letterboxd ↗