Biggest Fake in the Universe
by Johan Rundberg; trans. from Swedish by Eva Apelqvist
Middle School    Amazon Crossing Kids    192 pp.
8/25    9781662532030    $18.99
Paper ed.  9781662532047    $9.99

What do you do when you fall in love with the best skateboarder in Midsommarkransen, but you’re just a nerdy seventh-grade boy who has never kissed a girl and loves chess, computer games, and cooking? Movits Lind (Mo for short) knows: “I’m going to be a skater!” He talks his parents into buying him a skateboard and protective equipment and practices with his best friend, bloodying his arms, hip, and shoulder in the process but not getting very good at it. Eventually, however, he accidentally pulls off an amazing grind, and in two days a video of the trick gets a quarter of a million views on YouTube. Mo is soon world famous, known as the “King of Kransen” and the “Knight of the Ramp.” Even Mo’s love interest, Bea, begins paying attention to him. But Mo feels like the biggest fake in the universe; that epic grind had been more pratfall than purposeful trick, and he wants Bea to love the real Mo. Rundberg skillfully limns the mysteries of first love in a well-structured, page-turning tale: how will Mo extricate himself from the fake persona he has inadvertently acquired and get the girl of his dreams to like him for who he is? A charming story of love and being true to yourself, topped off with a recipe for “Mo’s Love Pizza.”

From the September/October 2025 issue of The Horn Book Magazine.