Mia Mayhem vs. the Super Bully

This story about a plucky little superhero-in-training really surprised me. Mia is an elementary school student with superpowers. The only people in her regular life who know her secret are her parents and best friend. In her spare time, she attends an exclusive superhero training academy. It’s at this academy that Mia encounters a bully – another kid with superpowers who is bossy, pushy, and just plain mean. At this point, I thought “Well, it’s obvious who’s the bully of the book’s title.”

Then, something interesting happened about midway through the book. Mia temporarily lost her powers. She became the bully towards her friends. I was so happy when her parents called her out on it. She did eventually apologize to everyone (including the original bully). Yep! She told the bully that she was sorry for calling him names even though he was mean to her and her friends. I really liked that she stood up to him; I also liked that she learned not to return meanness with more meanness.

I must admit, I wasn’t sure about this book at first. It seemed to be a run-of-the-mill story about forgiving your bully. But it was a nice twist that Mia started being mean when things weren’t going her way. She had to learn to value her friends even when she’s in a crappy mood.

I recommend this book for late stage early readers. There are plenty of illustrations and simple to understand scenarios. The book is not too long that readers lose interest. Overall, it’s a really engaging story.