The Curse of the Bologna Sandwich (Melvin Beederman, Superhero) Read online

  * What he hates: Melvin Beederman

  * Smells worse than his brother

  SUPERHERO’S CODE

  1. Never say no to a cry for help

  2. Find a good hideout

  3. “Just doing my job, ma’am”

  4. Know your weakness

  5. Show up just in the nick of time

  6. Always keep your cape clean

  7. “Not so fast!”

  8. Your brain is your greatest weapon

  9. Believe in yourself at all times

  10. Never break up a good team

  WHO IS MELVIN BEEDERMAN?

  Melvin Beederman wasn’t always an orphan. No, indeed. He used to live with his math-genius father in a small apartment in Chicago. Day after day, Melvin watched his dad work complex word problems. In the evening, they would go out together in search of tasty snacks. Their favorite? Pretzels and root beer, of course.

  One day, Mr. Beederman was working on the mother of all word problems. This thing was huge—and very difficult. It involved trains racing toward each other at different speeds. One of the trains was going so fast that it jumped the tracks and squashed him.

  Poor Melvin became fatherless right then and there. He was placed in an orphanage, where he trudged and toiled until the day he was spotted by Headmaster Spinner. A boy with noggin power, thought the Headmaster. The world could use a superhero like that! And so young Melvin became Melvin Beederman, Superhero.

  THE MAKING OF … MELVIN

  THE MAKING OF … CANDACE

  And now, a superheroic excerpt from

  MELVIN BEEDERMAN SUPERHERO

  THE REVENGE OF THE MCNASTY BROTHERS

  Superhero Melvin Beederman lived in a tree house overlooking Los Angeles, California. When he wasn’t catching bad guys or rescuing good guys, he was home in his tree, watching cartoons.

  And eating pretzels.

  And drinking root beer.

  And doing math problems during commercials.

  This is what superheroes do when they’re not working. The only thing that changes is the snack … and the math. Why was Melvin taking it so easy? Because the McNasty Brothers, those notorious bank robbers and all-around bad guys, were back in prison where they belonged. There were other bad guys who needed catching, of course. But they were not nearly as nasty as the McNasty Brothers.

  They didn’t smell as bad either.

  So Melvin was taking a break, watching his favorite cartoon—The Adventures of Thunderman. Like most superheroes, Thunderman had an assistant. Her name was Thunder Thighs. Melvin Beederman also had an assistant: Candace Brinkwater. The only person ever to run the 100-yard dash in three and a half seconds. The only person ever to score 500 points in a basketball game. The only third-grader who could fly.

  This flying stuff came in pretty handy for a superhero.

  When The Adventures of Thunderman was over, Melvin typed an e-mail to his assistant.

  Dear Candace,

  Meet me at the library after school.

  We’ll do a little math, then catch some bad guys.

  Sincerely,

  Your partner in uncrime,

  Melvin

  This was their agreement: Melvin helped Candace with math, and she helped him save the world. Candace’s parents loved having a daughter who saved the world on a regular basis—just as long as she was home for dinner.

  Melvin pressed SEND on his computer. Suddenly, he heard something.

  Squeak squeak.

  Melvin jumped to his feet. He wasn’t alone. “Who’s there?”

  Squeak squeak.

  The squeaking was coming from behind the TV.

  Melvin got ready to fight. “Whoever you are, come out with your hands up.”

  Wait a minute. That was policeman talk. And Melvin was a superhero, not a policeman. The squeaking intruder must have caught him off guard. He couldn’t think.

  “Come out and show yourself.” That’s more like it, Melvin thought. Superhero lingo. He’d learned the lingo along with the Superhero’s Code at the academy. Years ago, he’d been plucked from an orphanage and sent there. And now he was on his own in Los Angeles, his first job since graduating. His tree house was his superhero’s hideout—but maybe he wasn’t as alone as he thought.

  Squeak squeak.

  He grabbed the TV and pushed it aside. Even though he stopped trains and outran bullets for a living, his heart was pounding.

  Squeak squeak.

  Melvin stared with his mouth open.

  The intruder was nothing but a rat. A big rat, but a rat.

  Melvin and the rat looked at each other. The rat wiggled his whiskers. Melvin didn’t have any whiskers to wiggle. He wiggled his eyebrows instead.

  “Hit the road, rat,” Melvin said.

  The rat didn’t move.

  “Take off. Scat. Beat it.”

  The rat stayed.

  “Get out of—” Melvin stopped. Back at the Superhero Academy he could speak gerbil. And this rat was kind of like a gerbil. Four legs. A tail. Fur.

  Melvin gave his eyebrows another wiggle. This was part of gerbil language. If he had whiskers he’d give them a shake. But eyebrows were all he had to work with. Then he said, “Squeak.”

  ABOUT THE AUTHORS

  Greg Trine is the author of the Melvin Beederman, Superhero books, which he creates with his illustrator sidekick, Rhode Montijo. He is also the author of the young adult book, The Second Base Club. He lives with his family in his Southern California hideout. You can sign up for email updates here.

  Rhode Montijo is the illustrator of the Melvin Beederman Superhero series. He lives in Oakland, California. He believes that creating children’s books is super! His weakness: red licorice. You can sign up for email updates here.

  MELVIN BEEDERMAN SUPERHERO

  BOOK 1: THE CURSE OF THE BOLOGNA SANDWICH

  In which superhero Melvin Beederman and third-grader Candace Brinkwater team up to stop bad guys in Los Angeles.

  BOOK 2: THE REVENGE OF THE MCNASTY BROTHERS

  In which the McNasty Brothers escape from prison to get revenge on Melvin and his partner in uncrime, Candace.

  BOOK 3: THE GRATEFUL FRED

  In which Melvin and Candace must find who is out to get rock star Fred of The Grateful Fred.

  Coming Soon:

  BOOK 4: DOOM WITH A VIEW

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  For email updates on Rhode Montijo, click here.

  Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright Notice

  Dedication

  1. Never Say No to a Cry for Help

  2. Find a Good Hideout

  3. “Just Doing My Job, Ma’am”

  4. Meanwhile …

  5. Know Your Weakness

  6. Show Up Just in the Nick of Time

  7. Always Keep Your Cape Clean

  8. The Capeless Crusader

  9. Meanwhile …

  10. Unsuperhero Carl

  11. Slower Than a Speeding Bullet

  12. Meanwhile …

  13. Partners in Uncrime

  14. The McNastys

  15. “Not So Fast!”

  16. Your Brain Is Your Greatest Weapon

  17. Believe in Yourself at All Times

  18. Never Break Up a Good Team

  The Good Guys

  The Bad Guys

  Superhero’s Code

  Who is Melvin Beederman?

  The Making of … Melvin

  The Making of … Candace

  Preview: The Revenge of the McNasty Brothers

  About the Authors

  Melvin Beederman Superhero

  Copyri
ght

  Henry Holt and Company, LLC

  Publishers since 1866

  175 Fifth Avenue, New York, New York 10010

  www.HenryHoltKids.com

  Henry Holt® is a registered trademark of Henry Holt and Company, LLC.

  Text copyright © 2006 by Greg Trine

  Illustrations copyright © 2006 by Rhode Montijo

  All rights reserved.

  Our e-books may be purchased in bulk for promotional, educational, or business use. Please contact the Macmillan Corporate and Premium Sales Department at (800) 221-7945, extension 5442, or by e-mail at [email protected].

  First Edition–2006

  eISBN 9781250104670

  First eBook edition: October 2015