The Adventures of Beanboy

Tucker MacBean's father has left and his mother is always either at work or in class, trying to finish college. This leaves Tucker to watch out for his younger brother, Beech, while they secretly try to save up enough money so that their mother can quit her job. When Tucker's favorite comic has a contest for kids to create the hero's new sidekick, he hopes he has found a way to help his mother and fix his family -- all he has to do is create the winning supercomic. With thoughtful characterizations -- including Tucker's brother who has special needs -- copious black-and-white comic-book-like art, and an engaging storyline, this middle grade novel has humor, an enterprising main character, and the appeal of a comic-book adventure.