What would happen if you woke up every single day with a different, surprise SUPERPOWER?! Find out in this zany, hilarious illustrated novel from Mary Winn Heider and Chad Sell. The morning of his mom's business trip, Switcheroo wakes up to discover he has telekinesis. Which is super convenient when he has to give his babysitter-robot the slip to fight crime all day. But it's less convenient when he's recruited to fight crime again the next day, only to realize he can no longer move objects with his mind. Instead, he can talk to cats! Fun, but not nearly as useful. A new superpower every day should be exciting, right? What could possibly go wrong?
Switch and his heroic crew of rag-tag, superpowered kids are back! And this highly illustrated sequel has one mission: Operation Jailbreak (to Rescue the Parents who were Wrongfully Jailed by a Hero who Might Actually Turn Out to be the Real Villain?!) The Stupendous Switcheroo—Switch for short—used to idolize legendary superhero Vik Valor. He wanted to be just like him: a hero. But now that he has finally gotten used to waking up with new powers every day, Switch isn’t so sure that Mr. Valor is one of the good guys. How could he be, if he put all of Switch's new friends’ parents (who happen to be famous supervillains) in jail? Switch is left with only one course of action: Operation Jailbreak. Switch will have to get their families back, if he ever wants to find out the truth about Vik Valor—and himself. What else can you do if the good guys aren't really good? And if your parents are villains, were you born to be bad?
The heroic cast of rag-tag, superpowered kids are back! In this third installment of the highly illustrated series, can the Stupendous Switcheroo change his fate from #1 undesirable prisoner to top student at the Valor Innovations Academy? When the Stupendous Switcheroo—Switch, for short—set out to rescue his mom from supervillain jail, he never imagined he could be captured instead. Now, Switch is plotting his escape—but a failed attempt quickly proves it’s an impossible mission. But then, mastermind Vin Valor offers Switch a bargain: he can remain a prisoner… or he can join the Valor Innovations Academy instead. Switch is reluctant to choose between two evils—but maybe the resources at VIA will help him finally find a way back home. What he finds instead is a web of sinister secrets—and the family robot, Al, who has snuck into VIA to be Switch’s sidekick in disguise! It turns out reclaiming his freedom isn't the hardest mission—but figuring out where to go next sure is....
"Equal parts screwball comedy, coming-of-age story, and tearjerker-I loved, loved, loved it!" --Varian Johnson, author of The Parker Inheritance With a madcap sense of humor and a lot of heart (not to mention other body parts), The Mortification of Fovea Munson is Young Frankenstein for today's middle grade audience! Fovea Munson is nobody's Igor. True, her parents own a cadaver lab where they perform surgeries on dead bodies. And yes, that makes her gross by association, at least according to everyone in seventh grade. And sure, Fovea's stuck working at the lab now that her summer camp plans have fallen through. But she is by no means Dr. Frankenstein's snuffling assistant! That is, until three disembodied heads, left to thaw in the wet lab, start talking. To her. Out loud. And they need a favor.
For fans of Svetlana Chmakova's Awkward and Raina Telgemeier's Smile comes an inventive new story from Cardboard Kingdom creator Chad Sell about a group of young artists who must work together when one of their own creations becomes a monster. Drew is just a regular artist. But there's nothing ordinary about her art. Her doodles are mischievous . . . and rarely do they stay in Doodleville, the world she's created in her sketchbook. Instead, Drew's doodles prefer to explore the world outside. But after an inspiring class trip to the Art Institute of Chicago--where the doodles cause a bit too much trouble--Drew decides it's time to take her artistic talents to the next level. Enter the Leviathan--Levi, for short. He's bigger and better than anything Drew has ever created before. He's a monster, but a friendly one. That is, until Levi begins to wreak havoc on Drew's other doodles--and on the heroes her classmates have dreamt up. Levi won't be easily tamed, and it seems there is a link between the monster's bad behavior and Drew's feelings. With the help of her loyal art club friends, will she be able to save Doodleville--and Levi--before it's too late?
Perfect for fans of Raina Telgemeier, Awkward, and All's Faire in Middle School, this graphic novel follows a neighborhood of kids who transform ordinary cardboard into fantastical homemade costumes as they explore conflicts with friends, family, and their own identity. "A breath of fresh air, this tender and dynamic collection is a must-have." --Kirkus, Starred Welcome to a neighborhood of kids who transform ordinary boxes into colorful costumes, and their ordinary block into cardboard kingdom. This is the summer when sixteen kids encounter knights and rogues, robots and monsters--and their own inner demons--on one last quest before school starts again. In the Cardboard Kingdom, you can be anything you want to be--imagine that! The Cardboard Kingdom was created, organized, and drawn by Chad Sell with writing from ten other authors: Jay Fuller, David DeMeo, Katie Schenkel, Kris Moore, Molly Muldoon, Vid Alliger, Manuel Betancourt, Michael Cole, Cloud Jacobs, and Barbara Perez Marquez. The Cardboard Kingdom affirms the power of imagination and play during the most important years of adolescent identity-searching and emotional growth. NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY KIRKUS REVIEWS * THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY * SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL * A TEXAS BLUEBONNET 2019-20 MASTER LIST SELECTION "There's room for everyone inside The Cardboard Kingdom, where friendship and imagination reign supreme." --Ingrid Law, New York Times bestselling author of Savvy "A timely and colorful graphic novel debut that, like its many offbeat but on-point characters, marches to the beat of its own cardboard drum." --Tim Federle, award-winning author of Better Nate Than Ever
Perfect for fans of Raina Telgemeier and All's Faire in Middle School, this sequel to the Eisner Award-nominated The Cardboard Kingdom follows the kids as they solve the mystery of a new neighborhood monster. A mystery is afoot in the Cardboard Kingdom. Vijay, the Beast, renounces his title after being bullied by neighborhood teenagers. No one--not his big sister Shikha or his friends--can seem to draw him back out of his shell. That very night is when it starts. At first, no one believes Nate, who breaks his leg trying to pursue what he saw from his bedroom window. But then there's another, and another. An unknown monster has been spotted roaming the Kingdom after dark. It's ghastly, it's quick, and it might even have giant tentacles. Or claws. Or wings. Okay, there might be some varied testimonies on what exactly this monster looks like. Forget Halloween--the newly minted Monster Mashers will go to any lengths to protect the Kingdom and uncover this mystery. But how did the monster get here? What does it want? And mostly importantly, who is behind its creation? The Cardboard Kingdom: Roar of the Beast was created, organized, and drawn by Chad Sell with writing from nine other authors: Jay Fuller, David DeMeo, Katie Schenkel, Molly Muldoon, Vid Alliger, Manuel Betancourt, Michael Cole, Cloud Jacobs, and Barbara Perez Marquez.
In this delightful and hilarious holiday picture book, can a troop of unicorns really save Christmas? It's Christmas Eve, and Santa's reindeer are sick with the chicken pox. They can't pull his sleigh, so Santa needs some serious help. Will the unicorns save Christmas despite coming down with a case of hiccups? Or will Christmas have to be canceled?
A tuba player without a tuba and his jellyfish-imitating sister cope with their father's disappearance in a middle-grade novel both hilarious and moving by Mary Winn Heider, the author of The Mortification of Fovea Munson. Now in paperback! When Lenny Volpe, former quarterback of the worst professional football team in the nation, leaves his family and disappears, the Chicago Horribles win their first game in a long time. Fans are thrilled. The world seems to go back to normal. Except for the Volpe kids. Winston throws himself into playing the tuba, and Louise starts secret experiments to find a cure for brain injuries, and they're each fine, just fine, coping in their own way. That is, until the investigation of some eccentric teacher behavior and the discovery of a real live bear paraded as the Horribles' new mascot make it clear that things are very much Not Fine. The siblings may just need each other, after all.
Drew and her mischievous doodles are back—and planning a heist-in-reverse at the Art Institute of Chicago—in the sequel to Doodleville, which Lincoln Peirce calls “a masterpiece.” Drew never meant for this to happen. She didn’t mean for her doodle Mike to steal the centuries-old hat. She didn’t mean for Levi to steal the centuries-old baby (when he was supposed to be returning the coveted hat!). And she definitely didn’t mean to send the Art Institute of Chicago into a downward spiral of art-on-art combat. She just wanted to fix a simple mistake! Now everything’s gone wrong, and it’s mayhem at the museum. Drew is sure she’s going to become public enemy #1, wanted posters and all. But it turns out Drew and her art club might be the museum’s only chance at resolution and restoration. Can they fix it before centuries worth of masterpieces are destroyed forever?
