An Agent's Inbox #24

Dear Ms. Smith,

I see that you are seeking books with minority characters. While my main character is Black and his best friend is Hispanic, the book isn’t about race. Instead, it shows these boys as boys, enjoying the mysteries of the world around them.

Eleven-year-old Mike is determined to become NASA’s youngest astronaut. He daydreams of being a superhero and saving colonists from space monsters. But in reality, he tiptoes through the halls and hides from the school bully.

Then he meets Grimon, a blue alien wailing over his doomed job because he’s been called home and can’t complete his research. Figuring experience with real space creatures will guarantee a NASA job, Mike offers to help. Candies from a shiny red dispenser will show what planets humans could visit without turning orange or hiccuping forever, but they come with a side effect of temporary superpowers. Maybe even bully-stomping superpowers.

Speed, strength, and invisibility--sweet. Frog legs and belching zoo-animal noises, not so cool.

Mike records the results until creepy Federal agents show up. As a frogboy, Mike spies on the agents morphing into extraterrestrials determined to capture anyone who knows of their existence. If he wants to become a real hero, Mike must overcome his urge to hide and save his friends--and worst enemy--from a four-armed, snout-faced alien wielding the Interstellar Remote Control of Everything, or they’ll all end up frozen in a stasis field at the bottom of a haunted mine.

MIGHTY MIKE AND THE ALIEN PEZ DISPENSER is a MG Sci-Fi/Adventure, complete at 44k. It should appeal to those who enjoy the quirky humor of Nathan Bransford’s Jacob Wonderbar series.

I have a degree in Physics (both Mike and I would have loved to participate in the NASA microgravity experiment) but currently train endurance horses in beautiful Colorado.

Thank you for your time.

M.M.

MIGHTY MIKE AND THE ALIEN PEZ DISPENSER

Mike crammed his Space Camp application and “C-” history quiz into the Tweety Bird backpack that would never be as cool as The Avenger’s Hawkeye, no matter what Mom said. The zipper jammed on the pages, so he flung the half-closed pack over his shoulder and sprinted from the classroom before the bell finished ringing. He burst through the front doors and dashed toward the community park.

Chest heaving, Mike slipped into the woods. He skidded down a bank covered with last year’s leaves and plunked onto a half-rotted log behind a massive oak tree. Pebbles followed him and splashed into a puddle.

Mike stared at the ripples. Hiding like a wimp sucked, but it was safer than being found by Brutus and his gang. The sixth-grader kept The List of Chumps to Be Pounded After School. Thursday was piñata-Mike day.

Only outer space would be safer than Space Camp. Two more months and he’d be on his way: Space Camp, then on to becoming NASA’s youngest astronaut. Bullies wouldn’t be allowed in space, right?

After the science-fair judge labeled his zero-gravity omelet-maker as brilliant and called Mike the next Einstein, Brutus chanted Afro-Einstein for weeks. This totally baffled Mike since his close-cropped hair didn’t look anything like Einstein’s wild tufts.

The pool stilled into a mirror. A shadow loomed over Mike’s watery reflection. He leapt to his feet--right into the puddle--ready to block Brutus with his backpack.

Except it wasn’t Brutus.

Mike stumbled backward.