S.O.S.: Society of Substitutes #4: Super Fun World

By Alan Katz and Alex Lopez

If there’s a problem in school, there’s no substitute for the world-saving substitute teachers of the S.O.S.! This is the fourth book of this hilarious, highly illustrated early chapter book series.

It’s Spring Break! Milton Worthy and his family are off on a vacation to Super Fun World. It’s a week filled with roller coasters, rides, and fried food—and no super-sub missions for seven whole days.

Everything is going according to plan until Milton gets stuck looking after Noah—part-time classroom pet, full-time evil mastermind—who has an entirely different kind of getaway in mind.

Will Milton be able to figure out Noah’s latest plot for world domination before it ruins his family’s fun time?

HarperChapters build confident readers one chapter at a time! With short, fast-paced books, art on every page, and milestone markers at the end of every chapter, they're the perfect next step for fans of I Can Read!

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Release date: Nov 2, 2021
• ISBN: 9780062909459

Alan Katz

Alan Katz has written more than forty highly acclaimed children’s books, including Take Me Out of the Bathtub and Other Silly Dilly Songs, The Day the Mustache Took Over, OOPS!, Really Stupid Stories for Really Smart Kids, and the New York Times bestseller Misty the Cloud, with Dylan Dreyer. Alan has received many state awards for children’s literature, and he frequently visits schools across the country.  Alan is also a six-time Emmy-nominated writer for series including The Rosie O’Donnell Show, Taz-Mania, Pinkalicious & Peterrific, numerous Nickelodeon shows, and more. He hosted a long-running game show on SiriusXM’s Kids Place Live channel, and he’s also created comic books, trading cards, theme park shows, and hundreds of other special projects for kids and their parents. 

Book preview

It should have been a joyous bus ride home. After all, it was a Friday afternoon before the start of vacation week. Mrs. Baltman’s sign had told her students she wouldn’t see them again for nine days.

But as the bus creaked along Stagecoach Circle, Milton Worthy thought about something that Mrs. Baltman had said. It was nine words she’d said only to him, and he was pretty sure those words would ruin his entire vacation:

Milton, please take Noah home for the vacation week.

When the bus stopped, Milton grabbed his stuff and clumsily got off in front of his house. His mother opened the front door and smiled widely, ready to share a vacation-starting hug with her son.

But when she saw what he was carrying, she too had nine words to say:

Why in the world did you bring Noah home?

I didn’t want to, Mom, Milton told her. "But Mrs. Baltman said that someone had to watch our class ferret over the break."

I suppose that’s true, Mrs. Worthy said. "But why not your friend Morgan? Or Max? Or David? Or anyone else?"

I suggested them, believe me, Milton responded. But Mrs. Baltman knows that Noah has a habit of escaping. She also knows that if he tries to take over the world again, only our family can stop him.

I suppose that’s also true, Mrs. Worthy told her son. "While Max’s father is an apartment building super, and Morgan’s sells hero sandwiches, I’m the only superhero in the neighborhood."

Milton agreed. Then he asked the question that had been rolling around in his brain