Bouncer Post #62

Title: THE WORST VILLAIN EVER

Genre: MG fantasy/light sci-fi

Word Count: 35,000

Query:

When twelve-year-old George Pruwell finally gets admitted to the Academy of Villainy and Wrongdoing, he has big plans of making his family proud, especially his big brother Alex the Terrible. Unfortunately, George is anything but villainous. So to secure a slot in the school's best roster of classes and prove himself worthy of his family's wonderfully terrible villainy name, he takes on a nearly impossible assignment: defeat Captain Perfecto, the world's best superhero.

Now, George has to figure out how one too-nice-villain-in-training can defeat the most impressive superhero of all time. And when Perfecto turns out to have some big problems of his own, George must choose to either follow his shameful but strong instincts to help the superhero or crush him and go down in history as the most villainous Pruwell ever.  

Despicable Me meets The Incredibles in this 35,000 word manuscript for kids who love capes and comics. I am a former English and reading teacher and I currently write short stories and articles for standardized assessment companies, for grades 3-12. Sadly, they don't let me write about superheroes and nifty villainy tools, so it is not nearly as much fun.

First 250:

If the Pruwell family villains were a perfectly coiffed head of hair, George Pruwell would be the cowlick that kept on sticking out no matter how much spit was firmly applied.

The George in question peered out the window wearing his Mastermind Magnifying Goggles. With those bad boys on, he could see the yellow centers of Ms. Wutherford's daisies clear across the street. But George was far less interested in the daisies than in having a front row cyber-seat to what would hopefully be his first truly successful villainous trick.

He zeroed in on his tripping trick, next door to Ms. Wutherford's house. His stomach twisted when he spied the tripwire stake poking out from between the leaves next to the sidewalk. Obviously, he had not done as good a job as he thought.

George chewed on a thumbnail and debated whether or not he'd have enough time to run across the street and fix it. Rule Number One of professional High Villainy: Don’t get caught. He turned his gaze to the north. Mike Kahn was coasting down the sidewalk on his skateboard as he did every night. Nope. George was out of time.

It was a sweet board, especially for a Regular Public Citizen, or R.P.C.’s as they were known among villains. George's board was better, with jets in the back for quick escapes if –no, when!–he became a Villain-in-Training. He was sure the letter would come any day now, but getting at least one trick done right would make him feel better about his odds.