Melvin Beederman, Superhero – Terror in Tights

Greg Trine's Terror in Tights is a daft superhero comedy for 7 year olds about a hero who can't take off first time and a villain who can't stop sending him nasty emails.

What happens

Melvin Beederman looks the part. Red cape, big boots, x-ray vision. The trouble is he can't switch the x-ray vision off, so everywhere he flies he sees everybody's underwear. And every time he says "Up, up, and away" he crashes into the ground. Crash! Splat! Thud! Kabonk! He's usually airborne on the fifth try.

In this one, someone signing themselves SC starts sending Melvin threatening emails. "I'm coming to get you." Even a poem ("Roses are red..."). Who could it be? Melvin's best guess is Santa Claus, until he remembers he didn't get any coal in his stocking.

Your reader finds out who's behind it long before Melvin does, which makes it even funnier to watch him worrying. And the baddie's plan involves bologna, which just happens to be Melvin's one weakness!

Meanwhile his partner Candace, who can fly on the first go every time, is too sad to save the world. Her dog Smedley has just died, and she walks to school instead of flying. The bullies notice straight away.

Worth a quick word on that. It's handled gently and it's in the opening chapters, not a twist. But if your reader has recently lost a pet, it might land close to home. For most children, it's a sweet thread about a friend being there when you're down.

The jokes come thick and fast. The narrator keeps butting in, the characters tell each other off for repeating what the narrator just said, and Melvin's pet rat's squeaks might mean "Go get 'em, tiger!" or might mean "How do you spell kumquat?".

The chapters are short and punchy, with loads of sound effects, so it suits a new chapter-book reader who mostly wants to laugh. It works brilliantly read aloud too.

What to read next

It's the fourth Melvin Beederman book, but each one stands up on its own. If your reader wants to see how Melvin first landed in Los Angeles and found his tree house, go back to The Curse of the Bologna Sandwich. That's where it all starts.