Discovering Dynamite! (ePub)

Eleven-year-old Luke Mc Cowan believes life would be great if only he were one of the cool kids in school. His best friends, Reggie, Byron and Lou (Louise), wholeheartedly agree, each for their own reasons. Middle school would be a whole lot better if they were just different. Reggie wants to be basketball star like his dad, but doesn't seem to have the aptitude, size or ability. Byron, whose family owns Big Doughnuts, is force fed a steady diet of the doughy treats giving him low self-esteem and a weight problem. Lou, dresses in period costumes everyday, to disguise her yearn to fit in and to stay close to the leader of the group, Luke, who fears girls, buses and the bullies who pick on him endlessly. When the four friends have had their fill of being picked-on and humiliated, they turn to their confidante, Jazzy, a hip, Jamaican malt-shop owner who presents them with an ancient magic elixir. For the magic to work, the kids must mix the potion with the "essence of that whom they wish to emulate." After deliberating over movie stars, musicians and athletes, their search for the perfect mix of talent, charisma and cool leads them to choose action-movie hero, Dino Dynamite. Their plan is to travel from Connecticut to Hollywood in search of their hero without anyone knowing they're gone. But when a priceless Faberge Egg is stashed in one of their bags by inept thieves, the kids find themselves having to outwit the mob, the Feds and Russian agents using bravado, ingenuity and their own emerging talents.