Super Fly: The World's Smallest Superhero!

K-Gr 2—Eugene Flystein is a nerdy, unathletic fourth-grade fly living at the edge of the town dump in Stinkopolis. In his spare time, Eugene makes strange inventions that children love, like a homework robot, and plays with his younger sister, Elle. He even makes friends with a flea in the flea circus, Fred. But most of all, he stays out of the way of Cornelius Cockroach, a bully and his arch nemesis. That is, until Cornelius is transformed by one of Eugene's inventions, the Ultimo 6-9000, into a supervillain—Crazy Cockroach. Soon Stinkopolis is being terrorized and robbed by the cockroach, and Eugene must transform himself into Super Fly to save the dump. The drawings and plot in Super Fly might appeal to older readers, but the writing style is definitely for the younger set, possibly even to be included in easy reader collections. Fans of "Captain Underpants" (Scholastic, 2002) will enjoy the potty humor and simple black-and-white illustrations. The only downside is the very basic sentence structure, which would make read-alouds awkward.