Excerpts

Captain Awesome and the Trapdoor Behold! The time for Sunnyview Superhero Squad supersnacks is at hand!" Eugene McGillicudy called out. That meant it was snack time. Eugene, Charlie Thomas Jones, and Sally Williams had gathered in Eugene's tree house, aka the top secret clubhouse of the Sunnyview Superhero Squad. "On the count of three, let's reveal our supersnacks," Eugene instructed. "One, two, three!" "I've got packets of green stuff," Charlie said. "It's either green tea or alien space goop." "I have a box of sugar-free, gluten-free cookies," Sally said. Eugene held up a plastic container and popped off the lid. "I have . . . leftover lasagna! I declare that we make a tasty snack out of these," he said. "And we'll invent our own Superhero Squad Combo Meal!" The trio of heroes combined their snacks at the Table of Justice. Eugene's lasagna formed the bottom layer. "Cookie crumbles!" Sally crumbled the gluten-free cookies on top. "Teatime!" Charlie opened two packets of tea and shook the green flakes over the cookies. "It's so colorful!" "Bite time!" Eugene said, and he pulled a fork from his backpack. BARK! GROWL! SNARL! "Wh-what is that?" Charlie asked. "Beast noises!" Sally said. "It can only be . . . Mr. Drools!" Mr. Drools was the drooly dog-beast from the Howling Paw Nebula. The Sunnyview Superhero Squad had defeated him before, but it seemed he was back. "This is a job for the Sunnyview Superhero Squad!" Eugene declared. BACKPACK! UNZIP! SUPERHERO! Within minutes Captain Awesome, Supersonic Sal, and Nacho Cheese Man were ready for action. "To the ladder!" Captain Awesome cried. "My cheese is ready!" Nacho Cheese Man yelled, holding two cans of spray cheese. "Jalapeño Cheddar and Garlic Swiss are fully loaded." "He's close," Captain Awesome said as he climbed down the ladder. "I can smell his stinky breath from here." Before the superheroes could say anything else, Mr. Drools appeared. "There he is!" Supersonic Sal cried. "Hey, what's in his mouth?" Mr. Drools had something in between his ginormous drooling jaws, and his acid drool splattered on the grass. "There's only one way to find out," Nacho Cheese Man said. "We have to get him to drop it." "We'll need our secret weapon," Captain Awesome said. "One Hypersonic Mega Drool Treat coming up!" Supersonic Sal reached into the secret pocket of her supersuit and pulled out a dog treat. She tossed the dog biscuit to Captain Awesome, but Mr. Drools jumped to snatch it out of the air. "I'm on it!" Nacho Cheese Man yelled. He blasted the dog treat with a spray of Jalapeño Cheddar, which knocked it away from the snapping jaws of Mr. Drools and into Captain Awesome's waiting hand. Captain Awesome caught the dog treat and rolled it in front of Mr. Drools. The drooling beast's eyes widened. He dropped what was in his mouth, grabbed the treat, and happily ran back to his barkyard. Supersonic Sal raced over to grab what Mr. Drools had dropped. Then the trio ran back to their clubhouse. "Mission accomplished!" Nacho Cheese Man exclaimed. "So what do we have here?" Supersonic Sal opened her hand, and Captain Awesome smiled his biggest smile. "It's Bunky Buddy!" he cried. "The action figure that's all talk and no action?" Nacho Cheese Man asked. "I remember him!" "Before I discovered Super Dude, the greatest superhero in the known universe," Captain Awesome said, "I was a big fan of Bunky Buddy." What's that you say? You've never heard of Super Dude? Super Dude is only the greatest superhero to ever appear in comic books. He's the whole reason Eugene, Charlie, and Sally became superheroes and started the Sunnyview Superhero Squad. But now back to Bunky Buddy. Captain Awesome hugged the toy. "I missed you, Bunky Buddy! I was wondering what happened to you. I never knew you were trapped in the Howling Paw Nebula with Mr. Drools." "I love a happy ending," said Supersonic Sal. "Now let's get out of here before Mr. Drools finishes his Hypersonic Mega Drool Treat and comes back to drool up more chaos," Nacho Cheese Man said. Excerpted from Captain Awesome and the Trap Door by Stan Kirby All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.