Wednesday, December 26, 2012

A SERIES OF FORTUNATE SUPER SATIRES


A book review by Mr. B. at the Grandview Branch: 

With an unstated nod to Harry Potter, arm-chair storyteller/narrator Greg Trine has created the humorous chapter-book level series Melvin Beederman Superhero.   Let’s take as look at the first and (randomly) the fourth books in the series.  Volume 1, “The Curse of the Bologna Sandwich,” begins as orphan Melvin is graduating from The Superhero Academy.   His assignment is to set up shop in Los Angeles, “where there hasn’t been a hero since Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.”  When the cleaners mistakenly sends his super powers cape to Candace Brinkwater, third-grade actress, Melvin gallantly gives her half his cape, and inherits a partner in un-crime.  Together, they discover that their super-weakness is not Kryptonite, but bologna. In the remaining chapters, they must overcome a bologna trap set by the villainous McNasty Brothers, as well as an interfering narrator.  

In Volume 4, “Terror in Tights,” the dynamic duo faces more bologna; country music; Melvin’s former Academy classmate, Carl, who has turned Superbad; and that pesky narrator.  Running gags abound from chapter to chapter and book to book.  This silly, popular series of nine titles features a self-conscious narrator, puns and jokes, real and imagined Los Angeles area landmarks, and the singular warmth of a “favorite uncle” storyteller.

RL: Grades 3-4

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