Please Don’t Tell My Parents I’m a Supervillain (Please Don’t Tell My Parents #1) By: Richard Roberts

Plot:

Penelope Akk wants to be a superhero. She’s got superhero parents. She’s got the ultimate mad science power, filling her life with crazy gadgets even she doesn’t understand. She has two super powered best friends. In middle school, the line between good and evil looks clear. In real life, nothing is that clear. All it takes is one hero’s sidekick picking a fight, and Penny and her friends are labeled supervillains. In the process, Penny learns a hard lesson about villainy: She’s good at it. Criminal masterminds, heroes in power armor, bottles of dragon blood, alien war drones, shape shifters and ghosts, no matter what the super powered world throws at her, Penny and her friends come out on top. They have to. If she can keep winning, maybe she can clear her name before her mom and dad find out.

Review:

With a title like that I had to at least read the sample. After a sample like that I had to at least read the book. After a book like that I have to read the next. Notice a theme?

I was nicely surprised by PDTMPIASV, it could have very easily been over the top cheesy with no plot or character development in sight, but it didn’t take the easy way out. There was certainly cheese and it was set over a couple of weeks so there wasn’t much character development, but it was still there and combined with the plot and world it made a great book.

The book was very long for a juvenile fiction book, possibly even for a YA. There were times when it did drag a little, because Roberts wanted to show you that Penny was a normal middle school girl, who just happened to find out that she made a good supervilian. Normal middle school girls are pretty boring.

I did wish that she had found a way to cement herself as a superhero and not just someone who worked both sides. If Roberts was trying to say something more there he didn’t do it clearly enough for me. I did however see why Penny would enjoy being a villain.

I thought her parents were very stupid, especially for supposedly being two of the smartest people on the planet, because of that I doubted everything they said. Obviously this would appeal to kids, she’s pulling something over her parents so easily. As a parent I’m annoyed, though.

If you happen to have a child in the YA/ juvenile fiction age bracket that loves to read I would highly recommend. Because of the length I’m not sure I would recommend for all readers in that age group, though.

4/5