Partners In Uncrime

If you can believe that a kid superhero is making L.A. a safer place, Terror in Tights, the fourth in the Melvin Beederman series by Greg Trine isn't half bad.

After having read so many books for younger readers this summer that were just rambling lists of gimmicks and instructional wordplay, I found Terror in Tights a relief. Yeah, I wasn't crazy about the characters interacting with the narrator, but that definitely is just a personal quirk on my part. Though the book is the fourth in a series, it was a separate story. Young readers should be able to follow it even if it is the first of the Melvin Beederman books they've stumbled upon. (I was able to follow it, anyway, and it was the first of the books I'd stumbled upon.)

The book has only three major characters, and they're all kids. It has a number of illustrations (by Rhode Montijo) and a country song that should be sung to the tune of Man of Constant Sorrow.

You could do much worse.