This book gives a karate chop to the stale superhero genre with laugh-out-loud humor, layered characters, and real emotional stakes. Kyle Alexander is an awkward, anxious 11-year-old who gains superpowers from a magic ring found in a specially-marked cereal box. But Kyleâs powers arenât the focusâhis fears are. The real heroâs journey is internal: learning to face fear, trust friends, and do whatâs rightâŚeven when itâs hard.
Cockroach (Kyle's superhero name comes from a nasty crookâs cruel joke) is up against his most mysterious villains yetâbank robbers who blow up bank vaults and vanish without a trace. Readers meet unforgettable new superheroes: from a wheelchair-bound Korean ex-cop, to a Mexican who gained super powers from eating radioactive acorns, to an angry immigrant from Pluto named Captain Nightmareâwho just happens to hate Cockroach for wearing his deceased brotherâs magic ring.
Theyâre not your average heroes. They argue and fight. They cry. They question themselves. And yesâthey still save the day.
With its blend of humor, action, and heart, this book continues the Cockroach the Superhero series thatâs as thought-provoking as it is fun. Theyâre stories about what it means to be brave, vulnerable, and to be seen.
This book gives a karate chop to the stale superhero genre with laugh-out-loud humor, layered characters, and real emotional stakes. Kyle Alexander is an awkward, anxious 11-year-old who gains superpowers from a magic ring found in a specially-marked cereal box. But Kyleâs powers arenât the focusâhis fears are. The real heroâs journey is internal: learning to face fear, trust friends, and do whatâs rightâŚeven when itâs hard.
Cockroach (Kyle's superhero name comes from a nasty crookâs cruel joke) is up against his most mysterious villains yetâbank robbers who blow up bank vaults and vanish without a trace. Readers meet unforgettable new superheroes: from a wheelchair-bound Korean ex-cop, to a Mexican who gained super powers from eating radioactive acorns, to an angry immigrant from Pluto named Captain Nightmareâwho just happens to hate Cockroach for wearing his deceased brotherâs magic ring.
Theyâre not your average heroes. They argue and fight. They cry. They question themselves. And yesâthey still save the day.
With its blend of humor, action, and heart, this book continues the Cockroach the Superhero series thatâs as thought-provoking as it is fun. Theyâre stories about what it means to be brave, vulnerable, and to be seen.
It was 6:25 a.m. on Sunday, and the sun was just starting to rise. Officer Sanchez drove the squad car west on Oakton Street, while a very bored Officer McGillicudy sat beside him, staring out the window. After stopping at a red light, Sanchez turned left onto Gross Point Road. As he turned the wheel, he felt himself nodding off. Turning to McGillicudy, he said, âIâm beat. I can hardly keep my eyes open. You wanna stop for coffee?â
McGillicudy nodded and said, âGood idea. I could use a sandwich too. Why donât we stop at the coffeeâŚâ
Kaboom!
A tremendous blast from somewhere behind them rocked their squad car. Sanchez was suddenly wide awake. He wasnât going to need even a drop of coffee. The tires squealed as Sanchez spun the car around and flipped on the siren. He stomped the gas pedal to the floor and sped toward the smoke rising from somewhere just east of the library.
When he reached the Bank of Umerika building, he slammed on the brakes. Both officers leaped from the squad car. They raced to the bankâs window to investigate. Peering through the large plate glass on the north side of the building, they did a double take as they saw that someone had blown away the entire south wall of the bank.
âYikes!â exclaimed McGillicudy.
A strange vehicle was parked in the middle of the bank lobby. The officers looked at each other, bewildered. âWhat the heck is that thing?â asked Sanchez.
âItâs like a small busâsort of,â said McGillicudy.
Sanchez disagreed. âI think it looks more like a yacht, but it doesnât have a motor or sails.â
âI donât know. Iâve never seen anything like it,â McGillicudy added, pressing his nose against the glass.
âLook!â Sanchez yelled, pointing at two shadowy figures inside the bank. âSomeoneâs coming out of the bank vault.â
McGillicudy pulled out his gun and prepared to smash through the window. But Officer Sanchez grabbed his arm. âI donât think we need to break through the window. The other side of the building is wide open.â
McGillicudy thought about that for a moment. âTrue, but I really like crashing through windows. Itâs quite dramatic.â
âI know,â replied Sanchez, âbut the bank employees already have one heck of a mess to clean up without us breaking their window.â
âOh, all right,â McGillicudy said. âLetâs go around.â He took off running, with Sanchez close behind.
When they sprinted through what had once been the bankâs south wall, they saw two figures climbing a short ladder and disappearing into the strange vehicle. The hatch closed behind them, and a yellow light above the door began flashing.
As the police watched in amazement, it silently lifted a few inches off the ground. A tunnel of swirling blue and black appeared and seemed to swallow the vehicle. Then it was gone. It was almost as if it had never been thereâexcept that the marble floor was scorched where the vehicle had been standing. McGillicudy bent down to touch the floor and quickly drew his hand back. It was still very hot.
âLook here,â said Sanchez, as he stooped to pick something up off the floor. He handed it to McGillicudy. âThis round wooden thing was right next to where that yacht was.â
***
At 6:24 on Sunday morning, a tall, skinny, eleven-year-old named Kyle Alexander lay in an exhausted sleep on the top bunk in his bedroom, just a mile from the bank. He was filthy. His blond hair and much of his body were covered in soot, and he smelled like smoke.
Just three hours earlier, heâd flown back to his bedroom window, dressed as Cockroach the superhero. In a tough night of crime fighting, heâd rescued billionaire Ralph Hooligan and his daughter, Andi. Both had been kidnapped from Andiâs wedding reception. Vile criminals named Anthony âShotgunâ Jones and Luke planned to collect millions of dollars in ransom and then throw the Hooligans to the fish. Cockroach foiled the crooksâ plans. Heâd also saved the lives of the superheroes Barracuda and Caveman, whose attempt to rescue the Hooligans had failed miserably.
When Cockroach had arrived home, the moon was so bright that he hadnât needed to turn on the light. Kyleâs sheepdog, Parker, who had been sleeping on Kyleâs bed, opened his eyes but didnât move. Quickly, Cockroach removed his purple swim goggles and the hat with the letter C on it and tossed them on his desk. Next, he took off the black cape with the Cockroach emblem, held it up reverently, and smiled. The superhero, Lady Raven, had given it to him as a gift to replace the stupid-looking blue blankee he had been wearing. He carefully hung it on a hook in the closet and sighed as he thought of her. His body tingled so when he was around Lady Raven.
He quickly removed the sweatshirt heâd added to his superhero outfit to protect him from the cold. He pulled off the red sweatpants and the yellow T-shirt with the thunderbolt on the chestâboth were too small for him. After stashing his costume in the drawer, he looked forward to some well-deserved rest.
He was about to flop onto the bottom bunk, where he always slept, but then, he had a daring idea. After all the dangerous things heâd done, it occurred to him that he didnât have to be afraid to sleep on the top bunk anymore. He grabbed the ladder, climbed up three rungs, and looked down. No problem. He didnât feel sick at all. He didnât even tremble. Parker eyed him warily as he continued up the ladder and crawled onto the mattress. Kyle peeked over the edge of the bed at the floor and grinned. He wasnât afraid at all. Lying back on the soft pillow, he closed his eyes. He felt like he could sleep for a whole day. Soon, heâd drifted off into a delicious sleep.
But in a city crawling with dangerous criminals, superheroes rarely get a good nightâs sleep. Just two hours after heâd closed his eyes, a loud noise jarred him from his dreams.
Kaboom!
The house shook and the windows rattled. Parker was so startled that he fell from the bottom bunk onto the floor with a crash.
Kyle sat up quickly and banged his head on the ceiling. A sharp pain shot through his head, and he moaned and flopped back onto the pillow. Kyle quickly discovered that although his much shorter friend, Carlos, could easily sit up on the top bunk without hitting his head, he could not.
âWhat the?â he whispered. He glanced at his Super-H cell phone heâd been clinging to and checked the time. It was 6:25 a.m. Despite his exhaustion, he tried to get up to investigate the noise.
A thought dawdled through his groggy mind: Put on costume. See whatâs happening. Stretching out his arm, he grasped the ladder and pulled himself up carefully to avoid whacking his head again. Since heâd never climbed down from the top bunk before, he stopped to think. Should I climb down facing the ladder or facing away from it? Before his sleepy mind could resolve this question, his eyes closed and he fell back into a sound sleep.
I really enjoyed Steve Frederick's book, even without having read previous installments of Cockroach's adventures. I was a little wary going in, Cockroach's moniker not really lending itself to competent superhero-dom but I needn't have worried as Frederick has written an entertaining tale for late primary readers which will appeal. I know this because it appealed to me now and it would have appealed to me too at that age.
Cockroach is part of a group of good guys who all have different powers. I'm not going to list them but Frederick has used his imagination to create a diverse group, even one who's disabled, which I rather liked, subverting that idea of what constitutes "superhero".
And so, a new threat presents itself in the form of the Bangle Bombers, bank robbers who blast their way into banks using a machine which looks strange and disappears unconventionally once the dastardly deed has been done. The good guys are flummoxed but they are resourceful and have plans.
Cockroach is part of this crime combatting super team but what Frederick also shows is how being a superhero as a child is something that needs to be juggled with school life, family interactions and the everyday concerns of an 11 year old boy, like baseball and bullies.
Frederick creates, within an unbelievable premise, believable characters and situations, juxtaposing futuristic bank robberies with Kyle (Cockroach's real name) fielding the interrogative powers of Grammy and the problems posed by having a cape which needs a wash but also concealing.
This was an easy read with characters who are easy to visualise, helped by Frederick's ability to create convincing dialogue to round them out. There is a lightness to this book, although darker themes are presented like bullying and past trauma but all in all, this is just plain wholesome storytelling, well-written with a generous sprinkling of humour and in-jokes to prompt a good-natured chuckle throughout. I was especially impressed with the names of the bank robbers and where Frederick has them end up as well as some of the names of the superheroes mentioned at the end of the book like Dick Mobee.
If you're looking for a book that might get your primary/elementary school boys reading, especially if they're into superheroes, then this could be something that gets them interested. It's certainly worth a go!