Kristin Butcher... has novel ideas

The Last Superhero -- that's the title of a new book I have coming out next spring. And here is the cover art. I just received it today. It's done to look like an Archie type comic book, because one of the superheroes in the book is a comic book creation. Yes, I said ONE. There are actually several superheroes in this story. It's up to the reader to figure out who they all are and who the LAST one is. After all, a writer has to set challenges for her readers.

Allow me to introduce the evangelist on the table. It is none other than Miss Willa Rae Ellen Nott -- aka Wren, or Miss Nott as the librarian calls her, a form of address Wren dislikes because it sounds like she is being called Miss Snot. Wren is a unique soul -- and a unique dresser. She may be small, but that doesn't stop her from taking on the school bullies single-handed.

Jas is the young man in the blue sweater. All he wants to do is get accepted into an elite summer art program, but circumstances keep throwing Wren in his path, and he finds himself dragged into her crusade whether he likes it or not.

Then there's Miss Holmes in the background. She's the librarian, and all she would like is for the school gang wars to take place somewhere other than her library.

Absent from the illustration but very important to the novel are the library regulars -- a group of bookish kids who double as victims for the school bullies, and, of course, PeeWee and Garth, the grade 8 goons Wren is out to vanquish.

The novel is topical, thought-provoking, and just good fun. Cheer for the good guys and blow raspberries at the bad guys. You may be surprised who wins.