Gr 4-7-Sixth grader Joshua Dread's life is far from ordinary. As the son of the super villains, the Dread Duo, Josh spends most of his time traveling from town to town. Living in Sheepdale for a while, Josh has adjusted to a fairly normal existence, when he becomes "gyfted" with the power of spontaneous combustion. When new girl Sophie shows up at school, Josh finds another "gyfted" teen, but Sophie is also the daughter of Captain Justice, his parents' archenemy. When his parents are taken by smoke creatures, it is up to Josh, with help from Sophie and his "ungyfted" best friend, Milton, to help save the day. Bacon has developed an entertaining and clever plot and two dynamite tweens with superpowers in this novel (Delacorte, 2012). Narrator Maxwell Glick captures the comic antics of the superheroes and villains perfectly and his voices for Joshua and Sophie reflect their unique personalities. A fun read filled with comedy and daring antics. The second book in the series, Joshua Dread: The Nameless Hero, is scheduled for September 2013 publication.-Sarah Flood, Breckinridge County Public Library, Hardinsburg, KY (c) Copyright 2013. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

In this lively romp from newcomer Bacon, sixth-grader Joshua Dread is contending with the knowledge that his parents are secretly supervillains who periodically try to take over and/or destroy the world, only to inevitably be beaten down by heroes like the telegenic, endorsement-happy Captain Justice. Just as Joshua's own power of spontaneous combustion emerges, he faced with a worse problem: weird smoke creatures are kidnapping supervillains, and his parents are the latest to vanish. Now Joshua must save the worst villains on the planet, and his only allies are his best friend, Milton, and Sophie, a new girl with secrets of her own. Despite predictable moments, Bacon's deadpan narrative hums along with outrageous details, humor, and action and is complemented by Dorman's suitably heroic b&w portraits of the characters. A hero with a double life and a colossal set of parental issues, Joshua handles zombies, killer robots, and teenage girls without losing his cool. Bacon's affectionately playful take on the superhero genre introduces bombastic personalities without reducing the characters to caricatures. Ages 9-12. Agent: Sarah Burnes, the Gernert Company. (Sept.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.