The unlucky lottery winners of Classroom 13 / by Honest Lee & Matthew J. Gilbert ; art by Joelle Dreidemy.

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

As heard by kids everywhere on the Echo Dot Kids Edition, the Classroom 13 books are a hilarious new chapter book series-perfect for reluctant readers and fans of Roald Dahl, Captain Underpants, and Sideways Stories from Wayside School.

The Unlucky Lottery Winners of Classroom 13 is the first title in a series about the students of a very unlucky classroom. The easy-to-read chapters are full of humor, action, secret codes, and fun-and will prompt hours of conversation among friends, families, and classmates. The final chapter encourages young readers to write their own chapter and send it in to the author, Honest Lee.

When unlucky teacher Ms. Linda LaCrosse wins the lottery, she shares her winnings with her class-giving each student over a BILLION DOLLARS!

You might think this was nice, but it was not. It was a nasty idea. With great money comes awful allergies, terrible taxes, violent volcanoes, and other pesky problems. As the students of Classroom 13 are about to learn, winning the lottery is not always lucky.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Publishers Weekly Review

After perennially unlucky teacher Linda LaCrosse's lottery ticket nets her $28 billion, she splits her winnings with her class, per a contract they signed. In the subsequent chapters, the authors cheekily explore how the children use their enormous windfalls: Emma Embry buys "every cat in the state" and moves to an island with them (too bad she's allergic), popular Jayden Jason James clones himself, and class hamster Earl shreds and pees on his check. Keeping the dozens of students straight isn't particularly easy but neither is it the point: these brief and funny fantasies revel in the tantalizing possibilities of insta-wealth. Final art not seen by PW. Ages 6-10. Illustrator's agency: Bright Agency. (June) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

School Library Journal Review

Gr 2-4-Twenty-eight billion dollars seems like a ridiculous amount of money to win and spend. When unusually unlucky teacher Linda LaCrosse wins the lottery and agrees to share the winnings with her students, one would think her luck was about to change for the better-except it doesn't. Told in short chapters, with each one devoted to a winner, the story of how the characters spend their wealth gets more outrageous as the plot progresses. From buying all the cats in the state to accidentally freeing the money in a hot-air balloon, most of the kids somehow manage to burn through their cash rather quickly and rather unluckily. Even the class hamster is in on the action. Elementary schoolers will find the humor in each situation, though it may not give them a strong grasp of how much a billion dollars is really worth. VERDICT This first installment in a new series is a light and funny pick for confident chapter book readers.-Vivian Ho, Port Washington Public Library, NY © Copyright 2017. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Horn Book Review

In Lottery, teacher Ms. Linda LaCrosse wins the lottery and splits her winnings with Classroom 13. In Wishes, she brings a lamp to school and a djinn grants each student a wish. Readers see how these situations play out for each of the diverse group of twenty-seven students in his or her own short chapter. The wacky humor feels forced, but the many-perspectives format is interesting. [Review covers these Classroom 13 titles: The Disastrous Magical Wishes of Classroom 13 and The Unlucky Lottery Winners of Classroom 13.] (c) Copyright 2018. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Kirkus Book Review

What would you do if you won the lottery?Ms. Linda LaCrosse is a very unlucky person. She puts too much milk on her toast and too much butter in her coffee. She is the teacher in Classroom 13, with 27 students. On this particularly unlucky Wednesday, she decides to use a lottery ticket to spice up her math lessons and promises to split her earnings evenly with every single student. The prize for this lottery is $28 billion. And Ms. Linda is the only winner. In a sure storyteller's voice, the remaining chapters of the book relate the misfortunes the students experience after claiming their billion-dollar prizes. Lily Lin, who has always wanted to be an astronaut, buys NASA. Dev hires the best video game designers so he can live in a virtual-reality world. Ximena brings the wonders of the world to her ailing grandmother. Though each idea seems appealing, there's a catch. The diverse cast, including kids with disabilities, is appreciated, although stereotypes do appear. Dreidemy's absurd and cheeky illustrations depict the myriad ways that money does not buy happiness. The short, easy-to-read chapters and wry humor will appeal to fans of Captain Underpants and Wayside School. As this is but the first in a series, this interesting classroom of characters will soon meet another unlucky fate in the next book. The ongoing hardships of Classroom 13 hammer home teachable moments with humor. (Fiction. 8-12) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Author notes provided by Syndetics

Honest Lee is a liar! You can't trust a thing he writes. He insists that his stories are true. And they're totally not! Then again, I could be Honest Lee, which would mean I'm lying and my stories are true. What's the truth? I have no idea. Honestly.

Matthew J. Gilbert is one of many Matthew Gilberts. Seriously. There's like a trillion of them. This particular Matthew Gilbert writes stories and has a nearly perfect mustache. When he's not writing about Classroom 13, he's watching monster movies, eating tacos, and singing made-up songs about his cats.

Joelle Dreidemy spent her childhood in the countryside among cows and books, and has been drawing since she learned to walk. She lives in France, where she makes art for books, magazines, greeting cards, and more. When she's not illustrating, she sings and plays guitar in a rock band.