Biggest Fake in the Universe

By: Johan Rundberg, Eva Apelqvist - translator

Narrated by: Jeff Ebner

The bluff of a lifetime…

It started off innocently enough. Mo just wanted to catch a girl’s eye. She was this super-talented and mysterious skater girl who looked like she had the universe all figured out. So Mo did what any self-respecting nerd would do: He put aside his chess pieces, his guinea pig, and his books on astronomy and transformed himself into a skater guy, in the hopes that she might notice him.

He never expected to catch the attention of his entire town, practically all of Sweden, and the internet. But that’s exactly what happens when Mo—by a stroke of total luck—pulls off the skateboarding trick of a lifetime: He goes viral.

What’s a guy to do when the whole universe is expecting him to be something he’s not? Find out in this charming and hilarious story as Mo learns the meaning of being true to yourself…the hard way.

©2013, 2025 by Johan Rundberg. (P)2025 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved. Translation © 2025 by Eva Apelqvist.

Critic reviews

“Delightfully told and sure to please.”—Kirkus Reviews

“A translated work told with frank humor in very short chapters…Rundberg’s sporty rom-com should also resonate with fans of Dan Gutman, Kwame Alexander, and Mike Lupica.”—Booklist

“A charming story of love and being true to yourself.”—The Horn Book Magazine

A sweet story

A sweet coming of age story set in Sweden dealing with the universal themes of first love, honesty, and being a nerd who thinks the need to be cooler to catch the girl. Perfect for kids in upper elementary school or middle school and great for filling a gap between serious books for adults.