Nine-year-old Steven has never seen money with as many zeroes as are on the bill his elderly neighbor Mr. Chickee gave him. And he’s never seen a picture of a black man on currency before, let alone one who looks quite so funky. Steven’s dad, a music purist and avid record collector, identifies the man on the money as the Godfather of Soul—James Brown. A hilarious, over-the-top novel follows Steven’s determined and highly innovative efforts to find out the truth about this quadrillion-dollar bill (U.S. mint—the real deal) from the Treasury Agent determined to cover it—and the money’s very existence—up. Christopher Paul Curtis’s story is brilliantly grounded in how a nine-year-old believes—or wishes—the world really works. So adults do behave like children sometimes, a dog can be a hero, and aspiring detective Steven’s various inventions, like the Snoopeze 2000 listening device, really do work. (Ages 8–11)

Mr. Chickee, the genial blind man in the neighborhood, gives 9-year-old Steven a mysterious bill with 15 zeros on it and the image of a familiar but startling face. Could it be a quadrillion dollar bill? Could it be real? Well, Agent Fondoo of the U.S. Treasury Department and his team of Secret Government Agents are determined to get that money back! But Steven and his best friends, Russell and Zoopy the giant dog, are more than a match for the Feds. After all, Steven is the president of the Flint Future Detectives Club, and the inventor of fantastic spying and detecting equipment such as the Snoopeeze 9000!