Captain Awesome to the Rescue!

Name: Captain Awesome to the Rescue!
Author: https://www.simonandschuster.biz/authors/Stan-Kirby/83395156
ISBN: 9781442440906

Book #1 of Captain Awesome

By Stan Kirby

Illustrated by George O'Connor

PRICE MAY VARY BY RETAILER

Excerpt
Rave and Reviews

About The Book

Bad guys beware! Eugene McGillicudy just happens to be the most awesome superhero of all time…Captain Awesome. MI-TEE!

Now readers between the ages of five and seven can read chapter books tailor-made for a younger level of reading comprehension. Heavily illustrated with large type, Little Simon's young chapter books let young readers feel like they are reading a “grown-up” format with subject, text, and illustrations geared specifically for their own age groups!

Eight-year-old Eugene McGillicudy is an imaginative boy who loves comic books and superheroes. Eugene also has his very own supersecret superhero alter ego named Captain Awesome. MI-TEE!

When the McGillicudy family relocates to a new town called Sunnyview, Eugene starts a new school, finds a best friend, and even finds time to defend his toys from his two-year-old little sister, Molly! Luckily for Sunnyview, Captain Awesome is there to protect the town (and the universe) from a hilarious cast of comical “bad guys.”

With easy-to-read language and illustrations on almost every page, the Captain Awesome chapter books are perfect for beginning readers.

Excerpt

Captain Awesome to the Rescue!
“Where’s my Captain Awesome cape?” Eugene grumbled as he searched his closet. He tossed clothes back over his head, covering a stack of Super Dude comic books.

Psssst! Want to know a secret? It’s the most hugest, gigantist, enormondoist secret ever. The boy looking for his cape is not just eight-year-old Eugene McGillicudy, son of Ned and Betsy, and brother to his little sister, Molly. He’s also the superhero known as Captain Awesome!

Say it out loud:

Eugene came up with that name himself. That’s one of the cool things about being a superhero. You get to pick your own name. And if you’re making up your own superhero name, it shouldn’t be something lame like “Captain Just Okay.” It should be mighty, like . . . Captain Awesome! MI-TEE!

Eugene plopped on the pile of clothes and crossed his arms. Next time, I’ll remember to follow Superhero Rule number one: Never let your mom pack your superhero stuff when you’re moving to a new town. I bet Super Dude’s mom never lost his cape.

Wait! You’ve never heard of Super Dude?! He’s only THE coolest, bravest, heroist superhero of all time, and the one responsible for Eugene becoming Captain Awesome.

It all started the day Eugene’s dad gave him his copy of Super Dude No. 1. Sure, it might’ve looked like he was just giving Eugene the comic so he wouldn’t tell his mother who ate the last of the chocolate-chocolate chip ice cream, but Eugene knew what his dad was secretly telling him: Since he’s too busy with work and dad-stuff like mowing lawns and telling Eugene to keep his elbows off the dinner table, and eating the last of his mom’s chocolate-chocolate chip ice cream, it was up to Eugene to save the world from now on!

Eugene and his family had just moved to a new town called Sunnyview for his dad’s job —he worked for Cherry Computers. (“Cherry’s on Top!”)

“Eugene!” his mom called from downstairs. “Can you please come down when you get a chance? I want to talk to you about school.”

Oh, great! First she loses my cape and now she wants to talk about school! Eugene looked at the calendar on his wall. And tomorrow’s my first day.

Hooray.

BY HOORAY I REALLY MEAN BARF! I DON’T WANT TO GO TO A NEW SCHOOL!

Eugene fell backward into his clothes pile and covered his head with his pajamas.

Things were really getting desperate! First his cape was missing, and now school talk?! Yuck! Could today get any worse?!

Eugene leaped to his feet and struck a superhero pose. “Miff ivnent da mime poo burry abut barf—” Eugene stopped and yanked the pajamas off his face. “This isn’t the time to worry about BARF and new schools,” Eugene said and punched his hand into his palm. “I need to find my cape or Captain Awesome won’t be able to protect Sunnyview from the evil doings of bad guys like Queen Stinkypants, Baron Von Booger, or Dr. Spinach. Letting the bad guys win is worse than homework . . . on a weekend!”

Evildoers all over Sunnyview had better beware, because Captain Awesome was going to ferret them out just like a, well, a ferret ferrets stuff, except he’ll be wearing a superhero outfit and he won’t have a furry tail.

Captain Awesome will give bad guys his famous one-two punch and tell them to change their ways and become good guys . . . or . . . he’ll . . . tell their parents.

And if you think the Captain Awesome one-two punch sounds scary, you should see a super-villain’s angry parents. Bad guys hate to lose, but they hate being grounded even more!

But instead of fighting evil this morning, Eugene was digging through all the boxes in his new bedroom looking for his superhero cape.

“I’ll bet Super Dude never had days like this.” Eugene sighed.

And that’s when Eugene heard it! The evil “Goo!” and “Gaaah!” of his archenemy . . . Queen Stinkypants from Planet Baby!

About The Author

Stan Kirby

Stan Kirby tied a beach towel around his neck and became Super Commander Beach Boy when he was six years old. When Stan’s not creating the awesome adventures of Captain Awesome, he loves reading comic books, eating okra, and hang gliding (but not at the same time).

About The Illustrator

George O'Connor

George O’Connor is the creator of the New York Times bestselling graphic novel series Olympians, in addition to serving as the illustrator of the Captain Awesome series. He is also the author and illustrator of the picture books Kapow!, Ker-splash, and If I Had a Triceratops. He resides in his secret Brooklyn, New York, hideout, where he uses his amazing artistic powers to strike fear in the hearts of bad guys everywhere!

Product Details

Publisher: Little Simon (April 3, 2012)
Length: 128 pages
ISBN13: 9781442440906
Grades: K - 2
Ages: 5 - 7
Fountas & Pinnell™ M These books have been officially leveled by using the F&P Text Level Gradient™ Leveling System

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Raves and Reviews

CAPTAIN AWESOME TO THE RESCUE! [STARRED REVIEW!]
Author: Kirby, Stan
Illustrator: O'Connor, George

Review Issue Date: February 1, 2012
Online Publish Date: January 18, 2012
Publisher:Little Simon/Simon & Schuster
Pages: 128
Price ( Hardcover ): $14.99
Price ( Paperback ): $5.99
Publication Date: April 3, 2012
ISBN ( Hardcover ): 978-1-4424-4090-6
ISBN ( Paperback ): 978-1-4424-3561-12
Category: Fiction

The town of Sunnyview got a little bit safer when 8-year-old Eugene McGillicudy moved in.
Just like his comic-book mentor, Super Dude, Eugene, aka Captain Awesome, is on a one-man mission is to save the world from supervillains, like the nefarious “Queen Stinkypants from Planet Baby.” Just as Eugene suspected, plenty of new supervillains await him at Sunnyview Elementary. Are Meredith Mooney and the mind-reading Ms. Beasley secretly working together to try and force Eugene to reveal his secret identity? Will Principal Brick Foot succeed in throwing Captain Awesome into the “Dungeon of Detention?” Fortunately, Eugene isn’t forced to go it alone. Charlie Thomas Jones, fellow comic-book lover and Super Dude fan, stands ready and willing to help. When the class hamster goes missing, Captain Awesome must don his cape and, with the help of his new best friend, ride to the rescue. Kirby’s funny and engaging third-person narration and O’Connor’s hilarious illustrations make the book easily accessible and enormously appealing, particularly to readers who have recently graduated to chapter books. But it is the quirky, mischievous Eugene that really makes this book special. His energy and humor are contagious, and his dogged commitment to his superhero alter ego is enough to make anyone a believer.
As Captain Awesome would say, this kid is “MI-TEE!” (Fiction. 5-8)
Kirkus Reviews, February 1, 2012

Captain Awesome to the Rescue!.

Kirby, Stan (Author) , O'Connor, George (Illustrator)

Apr 2012. 128 p. Simon & Schuster/Little Simon, hardcover, $14.99. (9781442440906). Simon &

Schuster/Little Simon, paperback, $4.99. (9781442435612).

In this series starter, eight-year-old Eugene McGillicudy, aka self-proclaimed Captain Awesome, is new to town, and he is determined to keep everyone safe from Baron Von Booger and Dr. Spinach and to protect his secret lair from nemesis Queen Stinkypants from Planet Baby (i.e., his toddler sister). But school is off to a rocky start—teacher Ms. Beasley is potentially a mind reader (how does she know his name?), and he is targeted by mean girl Meredith. On the upside, he meets a possible new sidekick named Turbo, the class hamster, and Charlie, a fellow superhero fan. But when Turbo vanishes, it’s up to Captain Awesome—and Charlie—to find him. The peppy narrative has a comic book–like melodramatic, hyperbolic flair, which conveys both Eugene’s reality (including fitting in and finding friends) and his humorous view of the world. Large, wide-spaced text, short chapters, and interspersed simple black-and-white cartoonish drawings are new-reader friendly, though occasional invented words add zing but can be unwieldy (gigantist, enormondoist). Overall, this is a fun, accessible read for comics buffs and aspiring superheroes of the everyday kind.

--Booklist, April 1, 2012

Captain Awesome to the Rescue!

Stan Kirby, illus. by George O’Connor. S&S/Little Simon, $14.99 (128p) ISBN 978-1-4424-3561-2
The all-too-perfectly named Kirby (alluding to comic book giants Stan Lee and Jack Kirby) kicks off an early chapter book series that introduces eight-year-old Eugene McGillicudy, who views life through the lens of comics and believes himself to be a superhero: Captain Awesome. “That’s one of the cool things about being a superhero,” Eugene says. “You get to pick your own name.” Dressed in his superhero finest (a hoodie, a pair of shorts outside his pants, and a towel cape), Captain Awesome sees villains everywhere: his baby sister is Queen Stinkypants; his teacher Ms. Beasley becomes Miss Beastly; and class meanie Meredith is dubbed Little Miss Stinky Pinky. O’Connor (Kapow!) opens each chapter with crayoned cartoons “drawn” by Eugene that, along with more polished spot art—complete with sound effects like “Bonk!” “Pow!” and “MI-TEE!” (Captain Awesome’s superhero rally call)—bring Eugene’s imagined feats of daring to life, as he investigates the disappearance of class pet Turbo the hamster. Action, comedy, and hyperbole should easily hook readers, especially those who share Eugene’s love of comics. Simultaneously available: Captain Awesome vs. Nacho Cheese Man. Ages 5–7.

--Publishers Weekly, March 26, 2012