My Gym Teacher Is an Alien Overlord

Gr 4–6—In this sequel to My Brother Is a Superhero, Luke is still a regular person, while his brother, Star Guy, and his neighbor Dark Flutter have superpowers and are busy saving people from catastrophes. Luke and his friend Serge desperately want to be part of their team, but their plea is summarily dismissed by the two heroes. Serge's mother refuses to let him be around Luke, so Luke is stuck playing Puny Earthlings, the video game based on Star Guy's adventures, with his currently out-of-work father. At school, Luke and Serge, neither of whom has any athletic ability, are convinced their gym teacher is an evil alien. Their idea is confirmed when Luke beats Puny Earthlings and is transported to the game's mother ship, which looks remarkably like his school. There he is met with an endless number of his whistle-wielding gym teacher. These aliens want to take over the universe; they've already captured several planets, and Earth is next. It's up to Luke to save the world. He can't do it alone, and the only person who can help him is the evil comic book store owner, Christopher Talbot. The plot is much more complicated and harder to follow than that of the first book. While the characters stay true to themselves, the story doesn't flow as well and there is not nearly as much humor. Readers should be familiar with the first novel before jumping into this sequel.