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The Picasso Curse

Author Dan Gutman
Hardcover
$18.99 US
5-1/2"W x 8-1/4"H | 20 oz | 12 per carton
On sale Sep 02, 2025 | 224 Pages | 9780823453856
Age 8-12 years | Grades 3-7

What would happen if you accidentally bought a doodle worth millions? Edwin Hodge finds out in this middle grade novel by Dan Gutman, bestselling author of My Weird School series.

There were so many things Edwin Hodge didn’t know when he paid $10 for a cool poster of Kobe Bryant at the local flea market.

He didn’t know that hidden within the frame of the poster was an original drawing by Pablo Picasso, one of the most famous artists in history. He didn’t know the Picasso might be worth millions of dollars. He didn’t know that kids at school were going to treat him differently, or that he would become a world famous social media superstar. 

And he sure didn’t know that people would tap his phone, follow him home, break into his house, or threaten to burn it down. He didn’t know the Picasso was going to ruin his life.

Have you ever had to make a decision--a really hard decision?  A decision that would change the course of your life from that moment on?  Edwin is faced with lots of crucial decisions in this gripping adventure, a blend of fact and fiction by Dan Gutman, an author who says, “I want my readers to think that reading my books is like watching a movie. One where you never know what’s going to happen next.”

A Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection
Dan Gutman is the author of 180 books for young readers, including Houdini and Me, The (Mostly) True Story of Cleopatra’s Needle, the My Weird School series, The Genius Files, and the Baseball Card Adventures series. Thanks to his many fans who voted in their classrooms, he has received nineteen state book awards and ninety-two state book award nominations. Dan lives with his wife Nina in New York City.

About

What would happen if you accidentally bought a doodle worth millions? Edwin Hodge finds out in this middle grade novel by Dan Gutman, bestselling author of My Weird School series.

There were so many things Edwin Hodge didn’t know when he paid $10 for a cool poster of Kobe Bryant at the local flea market.

He didn’t know that hidden within the frame of the poster was an original drawing by Pablo Picasso, one of the most famous artists in history. He didn’t know the Picasso might be worth millions of dollars. He didn’t know that kids at school were going to treat him differently, or that he would become a world famous social media superstar. 

And he sure didn’t know that people would tap his phone, follow him home, break into his house, or threaten to burn it down. He didn’t know the Picasso was going to ruin his life.

Have you ever had to make a decision--a really hard decision?  A decision that would change the course of your life from that moment on?  Edwin is faced with lots of crucial decisions in this gripping adventure, a blend of fact and fiction by Dan Gutman, an author who says, “I want my readers to think that reading my books is like watching a movie. One where you never know what’s going to happen next.”

A Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection

Author

Dan Gutman is the author of 180 books for young readers, including Houdini and Me, The (Mostly) True Story of Cleopatra’s Needle, the My Weird School series, The Genius Files, and the Baseball Card Adventures series. Thanks to his many fans who voted in their classrooms, he has received nineteen state book awards and ninety-two state book award nominations. Dan lives with his wife Nina in New York City.