This was an odd book. Rupert lives in a very poor family and because of his brother's odd quirk of stealing cats the family is not liked at all and is getting no assistance. The descriptions of the family brought to mind Charlie Bucket's family. On Christmas Day Rupert was passing by the home of the Rivers, the richest family in town, on his way to school (because he didn't realize it was Christmas) and got himself snagged and zapped by the security gate. The family, feeling remorseful, invited Rupert in. There he spent the day eating and partaking in a variety of games. He was accumulating all sorts of prizes and then in a bizarre last minute winner take all question he lost everything and went back to his pitiful life. Except that members of the family felt sorry for him and started taking him on weird excursions - midnight run to a restaurant where the mom was working, time traveling in a cardboard box to the past and the future, and looking at jewels and ending up being robbed and kidnapped. In the end though the fortune of Rupert's family turned and he learned that the life of the very rich wasn't that great.
So - yeah - the time travel, etc was a bit weird. I think students who have enjoyed Horvath's other books or like really quirky may enjoy this. It didn't really work for me.
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