Jake and the Dynamo!

There’s no magic school in the novel Jake and the Dynamo, but there is magic and there is school!

I had the honor of editing this book. It started like a typical fantasy, a craggy castle, a dark queen…only then…

             With eyelids half-lowered over ice-blue eyes, the Queen peered at these her servants—or squinted at them, rather, since she could barely see through the gloom.

            “It’s too darn dark in here,” she murmured. “I know it’s got the ‘evil kingdom’ vibe going, but couldn’t we see about some recessed lighting, or maybe just a reading lamp? How do the other evil overlords do it? This can’t be good for my eyes—”  

I started laughing and I’m not sure I stopped throughout the whole manuscript, which isn’t quite fair to the story, because it has some moments of pathos as well. But the story of this bright young man trapped as a sidekick in the lives of these crazy magical girls in a city under constant attack by giant monsters is both touching and amusing.

Jake is brave. The girls are both funny and inventive. There are a few fun illustrations! I strongly recommend it.

Here’s the blurb:

Jake Blatowski can’t wait for high school: basketball, calculus, and a cafeteria that isn’t under investigation by the health department. Well, he’s going to have to wait: a computer malfunction has assigned him to the fifth grade.

It’s bad enough that he bangs his knees on the desks or that Miss Percy is going over long division … again … but Jake’s sitting next to Dana Volt. She’s a perpetually surly troublemaker who doesn’t even have to exert herself to make his life a living hell. But no, it gets better: Dana secretly belongs to a coalition of girls protecting humanity from the horde of deadly monsters that plagues the city. But Jake’s no hero; he just wants to get to varsity tryouts!

When the monsters choose a new target, Jake’s not at all surprised that the target is him. Sure, why not? That’s the kind of week he’s having. Now the impulsive and moody Dana is the only one who can save Jake from certain death—but Jake is the only one who can save Dana from herself.

See Jake and the Dynamo on Amazon