SIDEKICKS BOOK 3: ATTACK OF THE MOLE MASTER
Published by Little, Brown

A couple of months ago in this very blog, I reviewed books one and two of this charming series of young adult novels aimed at the superhero crowd. The first two outings showed a nice flair for sly humor and an unusually clever intelligence in the dialogue and deconstruction of the genre, all while being a very straight forward coming of age story for young hero in training Speedy. I am pleased to report that book three is more of the same, and even better than the first two.

Authors Dan Danko and Tom Mason have a gift for planting their tongues firmly in their cheeks and going for broke when it comes to mapping out these adventures. Speedy, a/k/a Guy Martin, is still hung up on Prudence Cane, the prettiest girl in school, and she still only has eyes for Speedy's fellow sidekick, the slightly sleazy Charisma Kid. But the Mole Master attacks and kidnaps Prudence to be his Queen of Dirt, so it looks like Guy might have the chance to save her and finally get to make some time with her.

Of course, things never quite work out that way.

Other obstacles for Speedy include his cowardly and asinine superhero mentor Pumpkin Pete (who has all the powers of a pumpkin) and his fellow sidekicks, who hate his superhero name ("why not Speedy Lad?") and the way he verifies that he is actually at a meeting ("yeah" versus "here").

These novels have a spirit and sense of fun that can be sorely lacking in YA literature these days, not to mention lacking in comic books. SIDEKICKS is scheduled to run for six books, and there is a subtle meta-plot running through the books so far, though it isn't anything that would be too distracting to a first time reader. I'm looking forward to reading the rest and passing them on to my step kids. Grade: A-

review materials may be sent to: Marc Mason, p.o. box 26732, Tempe, AZ, 85285