Artemis Fowl is something of a classroom classic; unfortunately one I never got into as a youth. It was an interesting tale of a young boy who is incredibly smart, smarter than the adults around him, who devises a way to steal money from supposedly mythical creatures. You follow Artemis as he tries to restore his family name the only way he knows how – underhanded dealings. His bodyguard and only friend Butler is an unwitting accomplice as he is essentially the role of the muscle/henchman as Artemis discovers the existence of various mythological creatures such as fairies and trolls, learns their language and kidnaps one for ransom. There is some dealings with mental health/abandonment and loss as the young boys father went missing at sea and the mother, unable to cope, slips in and out of delirium for most of the book.
Overall a charming story I quite enjoyed it gets a 4/5 from me and is already in a pile for my classroom library!