Superheroes. Queer romance. Babysitting? 

I'm super excited to be hosting a stop on the book tour for The Assassin's Guide for Babysitting, hosted by Colored Pages Book Tours! 

This book came out on January 7th, so you can read it now! 

My Review! 

In one word—delightful! The Assassin’s Guide to Babysitting is the superhero/villain lesbian sci-fi book I had no idea I needed, but I’m so profoundly glad that I got the chance to read it. If you loved Not Your Sidekick or Renegades, you have to check this one out immediately—I’ll be recommending this book for years to come!

Tru is a truly fantastic protagonist. Whether mourning, pining, plotting, or fighting, she has a sharp, witty voice that propels the story at a fast pace and a caring heart that made me fall in love with her and this story from page one. Parker is truly a master at crafting well-drawn and relatable characters in even the most minute details, and Tru is exactly that, made even more multidimensional by the relationships she has with the supporting cast. This book has both a brilliant friend group and one of the most caring father-daughter relationships I’ve read in years,

There are plenty of books starring supervillains or superheroes, but The Assassin’s Guide to Babysitting makes every detail feel new through its madcap execution and brilliant twists. Whatever impression of this book you have from the title is spot-on—Parker throws together the most unlikely scenarios and pulls them off with commendable ease, making even the most outrageous scenarios as natural and believable as Tru’s love of baking. The sheer normalcy and bureaucracy associated with superpowers was spot-on, and though this was a pitch-perfect standalone, I found myself wishing for a sequel to spend more time with these characters and world.

I can’t recommend The Assassin’s Guide to Babysitting highly enough—five extremely well-deserved stars! 


​Special thanks to Colored Pages Book Tours and Candlewick Press for the gifted copy of The Assassin’s Guide to Babysitting! All opinions expressed here are my own.

​Natalie C. Parker is the author and editor of several books for young adults among them the acclaimed Seafire trilogy. Her work has been included on the NPR Best Books list, the Indie Next List, and the TAYSHAS Reading List, and in Junior Library Guild selections. Natalie grew up in a navy family finding home in coastal cities from Virginia to Japan. Now, she lives with her wife on the Kansas prairie.
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By Nico

​Jessica Tran is not a hero.

Despite the superpowers of her hero parents and her older sister, she doesn’t have the gene—meaning that instead of training with the Heroes’ League of Heroes, she’s stuck hunting for internships to improve her college application.

When she finally stumbles on an internship with Monroe Industries, the premier robot-creating institution in her futuristic, high-tech world, Jess figures it’s as good as anything else as a replacement for saving the world. But the Monroe Industries internship turns out to be more interesting than Jess foresaw when she discovers her longtime crush, Abby, is one of her new coworkers—and that her parent’s longtime villain nemesis owns the company.

It becomes a way of rebellion—working for a villain, since she can’t become a hero like she always dreamed. But as Jess learns more about Monroe Industries—and the heroes she’s always idolized—she begins to question what being a hero or villain really means.

​Not Your Sidekick is a quirky, clever spoof of the classic superhero/villain narrative that instantly pulled me into its unexpected world. Although this is far from the first book to rewrite the usual hero/villain dynamic, C. B. Lee does so with particular flair, making Jess question the makeup of her society but only incorporating dystopian clichés with thoughtful self-awareness. The characters were awesome; Jess and Abby were definitely favorites, but I also loved Jess’s friend Bells, and how even minor characters who initially present as little more than superhero caricatures have their own depth and uniqueness. I also loved how Lee incorporated both queer and racial diversity into this story in a way that felt normal while also acknowledging and incorporating how a superhero-run society could exacerbate existing prejudice. I highly recommend Not Your Sidekick to readers ages twelve and up. 

By Lina

Ten-year-old self-proclaimed natural-born cynic Flora Belle Buckman has studied enough of her beloved comics to know that it is imperative to be prepared for the Terrible Things that can happen to a person. So when her next-door neighbor's birthday present, a Ulysses Super-Suction, Multi-Terrain 2000x vacuum cleaner, accidentally suctions up a hapless squirrel, she doesn't hesitate--she administers CPR. To the squirrel. 

Except....he's not quite an ordinary squirrel anymore. He looks like a squirrel (albeit a slightly bald one, thanks to the vacuum cleaner), and thinks like a squirrel ("Food?"), but now the newly dubbed Ulysses has the powers of a superhero from one of Flora's comics: He can fly! Lift enormous objects! Type! He even writes poetry. 

If Flora knows one thing about superheroes, it's that they always have a job to do, and people to save. And Ulysses' new powers do spark an unexpected chain of events, setting Flora on a wild adventure filled with a variety of quirky characters, including a dramatic divorced romance novelist (who also happens to be Flora's mother); a doctor of philosophy from Blundermeecen; Flora's father, who shares her love of comics; her improbably named, poetry-loving neighbor Tootie; and William Spiver, Tootie's pedantic, eccentric great-nephew who insists that he is temporarily blind. They will face opposition, archenemies, and giant donuts. They will realize that the universe is a very random, very beautiful place. And in the end, Ulysses might just save the day. 

I first read Flora and Ulysses when I was eight or nine, and I remember enjoying it then--but when I recently reread it for a book group, I utterly adored it. The characters are pitch-perfect and irresistibly quirky, and it's an absolute joy to watch them grow and connect over the course of the story. Kate DiCamillo is brilliant, and her writing makes the many wacky characters, events, and unexpected occurrences hang together perfectly with ease, and keeps the story fast-paced and the reader constantly laughing. It's a difficult book to do justice to in a summary, given the quirky premise, but I can honestly say that it's one of my all-time favorites, and a book which I could read over and over, and would bring me joy every time. Filled with madcap wit, wisdom, hilarity, and surprising tenderness, I would highly recommend Flora and Ulysses to readers ages eight and up--it's an excellent read-aloud, audiobook (complete with superhero music!), or book group selection, and is also a delight to read on one's own. 

By Contributing Reviewer Abby E, age 11

Renegades, by Marissa Meyer is a wonderful fantasy with romance, secret identities, crazy powers, revenge and justice. A girl, a boy, thrilling adventures, what more could you want? Although on different sides in this battle, the work together and become friends. In this spellbinding tale you enter Nova and Adrian's world of prodigies. With heroes and villains you won't want to put the book down. and when you're done reading it you'll be clawing for the next book.

​Note from Super Kitty and Piranha T: We love this book (and series) too! 

- by Piranah T.

Flora & Ulysses is a great book about a girl named Flora and a squirrel named Ulysses (after the all-terrain vacuum cleaner that sucked him up). Flora, who reads a lot of comic books, thinks Ulysses has superpowers after the vacuum cleaner incident. And he does! He is strong, he can fly, and he can type! One of my favorite parts is when Flora's mother captures Ulysses.


Note from Piranah T.'s mamma: This really is a fabulous read! DiCamillo does a wonderful job with using Big Words (gasp!) and treating readers to a great story (as always).  Both the book and audiobook are wonderful: the book uses comic-strip sections to describe the "superhero" parts of the book, while the audio uses music & old-fashioned enthusiasm (think the original "Superman" narrator) to fabulous effect. Really wonderful for kids who already love reading, but also offers a great draw to more reluctant readers, by using the different mediums.