Stink: Superhero Superfan (Stink Series #13)
Stink: Superhero Superfan (Stink Series #13)
eBook
Related collections and offers
Overview
A trove of vintage comic books and a few forensic tips turn Stink into a super sleuth in an adventure that honors classic superheroes and mystery-solving.
Cheek! Chack! Chirp!
At a Moody family yard sale, Stink uncovers a box of old comics about a hero he’s never heard of: Super Gecko. What could be more fantastic than a superhero with lizard superpowers? Hello, fun! Even better, Super Gecko is making a comeback, and Stink quickly becomes his number-one fan. Stink starts receiving mysterious notes signed by Super Gecko himself. But Super Gecko isn’t real, is he? Using his own powers of deduction—thanks to all the cool stuff he’s learning at Saturday Science Club—can Stink figure out who is writing the letters?
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781536224627 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Candlewick Press |
| Publication date: | 03/07/2023 |
| Series: | Stink Series , #13 |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| File size: | 51 MB |
| Note: | This product may take a few minutes to download. |
| Age Range: | 6 - 9 Years |
About the Author
Megan McDonald is the author of the popular Judy Moody and Stink series for older readers. She has also written many other books for children, including The Sisters Club series and two beginning readers featuring Ant and Honey Bee. Megan McDonald lives in California.
Peter H. Reynolds is the illustrator of the Judy Moody and Stink books and the author-illustrator of The Dot, Ish, Sky Color, So Few of Me, The North Star, Rose’s Garden, The Smallest Gift of Christmas, Playing from the Heart, and Make Your Mark Gallery. Born in Canada, he now lives in Dedham, Massachusetts.
“Sometimes I think I am Judy Moody,” says Megan McDonald, author of the wildly popular Judy Moody series, the Stink books, and the Sisters Club trilogy. “I’m certainly moody, like she is. Judy has a strong voice and always speaks up for herself. I like that.”
For Megan McDonald, being able to speak up for herself wasn’t always easy. She grew up in a house full of books, as the youngest of five sisters in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Her father, an ironworker, was known to his coworkers as “Little Johnny the Storyteller.” Every evening, the McDonalds gathered around the large, round dinner table to talk and tell stories, but Megan McDonald was barely able to get a word in edgewise. “I’m told I began to stutter,” she says, leading her mother to give her a copy of Harriet the Spy and a small spiral notebook, so she could begin writing things down á la the young reporter Harriet.
To date, Megan McDonald has penned more than sixty books for children and young readers, including the critically acclaimed Judy Moody series. These hilarious books have won numerous awards, ranging from a Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year and an International Reading Association Children’s Choice to the first-ever Beverly Cleary Children’s Choice Award. “Judy has taken on a life of her own,” the author notes, with millions of Judy Moody books in print worldwide. The feisty third-grader is highly popular with boys and girls, making for an enthusiastic base of fans who are among Megan McDonald’s strongest incentives to keep writing the adventures of Judy Moody and her little brother, Stink, along with a bottomless well of ideas inspired by growing up with four older sisters.
And—by popular demand—Judy Moody’s little brother, Stink, gets his chance to shine in his own adventures! Megan McDonald says, “Once, while I was visiting a class full of Judy Moody readers, the kids, many with spiked hair à la Judy’s little brother, chanted, ‘Stink! Stink! Stink! Stink! Stink!’ as I entered the room. In that moment, I knew that Stink had to have a book all his own.” Now, giant jawbreakers, smelly sneakers, stinky corpse flowers, and 101 runaway guinea pigs join Mouse, Jaws, Toady, mood rings, an ABC gum collection, and operating on a zucchini in the everyday antics of Judy Moody’s world.
Megan McDonald has recalled some of her own childhood by writing about the warmth, humor—and squabbles—of three spunky sisters in the Sisters Club trilogy, wrapping up with Cloudy With a Chance of Boys. Megan McDonald lives and writes in northern California with her husband, a frequent collaborator.
“I often visit classrooms and ask who loves to draw,” says Peter H. Reynolds, illustrator of the acclaimed Judy Moody series by Megan McDonald and author-illustrator of The Dot, Ish, Sky Color, So Few Of Me, and other enchanting picture books that celebrate the creative process. “In kindergarten and first grade, all the hands go up. In second grade, most of the hands go up. In third grade, half the hands are up. By fourth and fifth grade, most of the hands are down, or perhaps pointing to ‘the class artist.’ It’s sad to see the artistic, creative energy slowing down, being packed away. I am convinced it’s because children learn early that there are ‘rules’ to follow. But when it comes to expressing yourself, you can invent your own rules. You can change them, you can stretch them, or you can ignore them all and dive headfirst into the unknown.
“Nothing irks me more than seeing a person’s creativity get shut down,” he continues. “Through my books, I want to help give kids—and grown-up kids—the vocabulary to protect their exploration, in art, writing, and thinking.” It certainly appears his approach is working: not only has The Dot garnered high critical acclaim, it also received the 2004 Christopher Medal, awarded to works that “affirm the highest values of the human spirit.”
Peter H. Reynolds recalls that when he was approached about illustrating Megan McDonald’s Judy Moody—the first in what would become an extremely popular chapter-book series for middle-graders—he jumped at the chance. For one thing, the feisty, independent Judy reminded him of his own daughter, who was eleven years old at the time. “Judy seemed very real to me, compared to fantasy versions of what little girls are like,” he says. What’s more, the story itself—in which a moody Judy struggles to create a Me collage for school—clicked with his own beliefs as an educator about the role a child’s temperament can play in the learning process.
But it was Judy’s younger “bother,” Stink, who would strike the greatest chord within Peter H. Reynolds. “I’ve fallen in love with the whole cast of characters in the world of Judy Moody, but Stink has always been a favorite of mine. He reminds me of myself growing up: dealing with a sister prone to teasing and bossing around—and having to get creative in order to stand tall beside her.” And now Stink is getting the chance to be heard in his own series also by Megan McDonald— which features the artwork of Peter H. Reynolds that Judy’s fans have grown to love, including comic strips drawn by Stink himself.
Peter H. Reynolds and his twin brother, Paul (now his business partner), were born in Canada but moved to a Massachusetts suburb when they were three years old. They made their first foray into publishing at the age of seven, when they began producing their own newspapers and comic books on their father’s photocopier. An incessant doodler since childhood, Peter H. Reynolds credits his unique brand of humor and his love for the absurd to growing up with “very eccentric British parents” who were fond of watching Monty Python. “It was not a normal house,” he recalls. From his parents he also inherited an appreciation for tea, which he uses both as a beverage and an art medium. In addition, the illustrator brings to the Judy Moody series his sensibility as a “very visual person.”
Founder of the award-winning educational media developer and publisher FableVision, where he produces award-winning children’s broadcast programming, educational videos, and multimedia applications, Peter H. Reynolds was recently honored by Verizon as Literacy Leader of the Year. The author-illustrator lives with his family in Dedham, Massachusetts.
Read an Excerpt
aboom!
Ka-tang!
Ka-pow!
Stink Moody was a real-life crime fighter. For a day, that is. Stink and Riley Rottenberger were at Saturday Science Club. They were learning about forensic science from Mrs. Rottenberger, their teacher and Riley’s mother.
Stink got to use a pocket microscope. Stink got to track footprints. Stink got to dust for fingerprints. Stink and Riley spent all morning finding clues, adding them up, and solving a mystery.
“We’re out of time for today,” said Mrs. Rottenberger.
“Too bad,” said Riley. “I love puzzles and mysteries.”
“Forensic science is cool,” said Stink. “I liked when we got to spot the difference between photos. And when we compared handwriting in those notes.”
“Next Saturday, everybody, we’re going to explore superhero science,”
said Mrs. Rottenberger. “Could the Flash really run across water? Could my favorite superhero, Elastigirl, aka Mrs. Incredible, stretch herself to be as tall as the Statue of Liberty? We’ll have water-drop races and make superhero slime to find out.”
Stink couldn’t believe his not-supersonic ears! Stink was cuckoo for superheroes. “Superhero science!” said Stink. “Shazam! That sounds even better than crime-fighting science!”
“Thanks,” said Riley. “It was my idea.”
Stink imagined himself in a cape that said stink: superhero superfan.
“What superhero powers you would like to know more about?” asked Mrs. Rottenberger. “X-ray vision? Invisibility? Speed? For next Saturday, choose one superpower that you’d like to explore, and we’ll find out the science behind it.”
All the way home, Stink thought about superheroes and their superpowers. Wonder Woman flew on air currents. Maybe they could measure wind speed. Cool! Superman had X-ray vision.
Spider-Man had his spidey sense. And he could shoot webs from his fingers. Black Panther’s suit could make him invisible, and he could see in the dark. The Flash was super speedy and traveled through time.
Wait! What about Green Lantern’s power ring? Could science explain how it created a force field around him?
When Stink got home, his whole family was cleaning out the garage.
Dad was dusting off old records. Mom was painting an old chair. Judy was making a sign with squeaky markers.
Stink used his super powers of observation and deduction. This could mean . . .
They were moving? Getting a new car? Having a yard sale?
Judy held up her sign. “Check it out, Stink.” yard sale! cool stuff!
“Yard sale! BAM! I knew it!” said Stink. “Can I sell stuff, too?”
“Maybe you can sell some of the action figures and toys that you don’t play with anymore, Stink,” Mom said.
“Okay, but not my Batmobile or Green Lantern power ring,” said Stink. “Hey! Maybe I can make enough to get a Black Panther vibranium power-claw bank.”
“A whosie whatsit?” asked Judy. “Stink, you have superheroes on the brain.”
“Yeah, I do!” said Stink. “Because I have to come up with a superhero power to explore next week at Saturday Science Club.”
“Pick Squirrel Girl! She has a rhyming name like me,” said Judy. “Doreen Green. And she has the superpowers of a squirrel. She can jump between trees and chew through wood with her teeth. Or pick the Flash. He can speed-read.”
“How about Black Panther?” said Stink. “He can see in the dark. Or what about Spider-Man’s spidey sense? He senses danger from miles away.”
“I can sense that you’re in danger of not making any money if you don’t get a move on,” said Mom.
Stink ran upstairs lightning-bolt-fast like the Flash. He filled up a laundry basket with stuff he could sell—old tub toys, toe socks, a piggy bank (really a hippo bank), and a genius kit that had not made him a genius.
“Look at all this stuff I can sell,” said Stink. “I’m going to be rolling in it!”
“You’re selling your piggy bank?” Judy asked. “But you love saving money.”
“This is just my one-eared hippo piggy bank,” Stink told her. “I still have my gumball-machine piggy bank. But if I sell this one, I can make tons of money and get the Black Panther vibranium power-claw bank. It has flashing lights and sounds and an actual claw reaches out to take your money! It holds six hundred coins, one hundred dollar bills, and it’s password protected,” said Stink.
“Is the password going to be power claw?” Judy asked.
GULP! “No,” he said, staring at the ground. “Well, maybe. Okay, yes, but—”
“Stink, maybe you should hang on to that genius kit,” said Judy.
The next day, Grandma Lou came to help with the yard sale. She brought a few things of her own to sell: a cowboy lamp, Christmas candlesticks, and an old canary cage.
“Yard sale time!” said Grandma Lou. “I like the chalk footprints leading people up the sidewalk to your house.”
“Thanks,” said Stink. “That was my idea.”
“Did you put up some signs, too? Signs are important.”
“I made signs using smelly markers,” said Judy. “I put them up on telephone poles at both corners of our street.”
“Sweet and stinky,” said Stink, “so people can smell their way here.”
“Good. I hope we get some buyers, not just lookie-loos,” said Grandma Lou.
“What are lookie-loos?” Stink asked.
“You know, people who come just to look, but don’t buy anything.”
“For sure someone’s going to want my bouncy ball collection,” said Judy. “And this potholder loom. And my old cash register.”
“Cash register?” asked Stink. “Can I have that?”
“Sure,” said Judy. “That’ll be one dollar.”
“Sold,” said Stink.
“Where’s my dollar, Stink?” Judy asked.
“Um, I don’t have it yet. But I will. I’m going to sell my old yo-yos with missing strings. These are gonna sell like cupcakes.”
“You mean hotcakes,” said Judy.
Stink shrugged. “Then I can pay you back and have enough for my power-claw bank.”
“Never mind. Just pay me two gum-wrapper chains, one wind-up birthday cake, and one mini-eraser.” She took them out of Stink’s laundry basket.
Stink eyeballed some shelves in the garage. “Hey, has anybody come across a shoebox filled with my origami creations? I think I could sell those, too!”
Nobody answered. They were already talking to early-bird customers.