Discovering Dynamite! - Joseph Allen Costa

Eleven-year-old Luke McCowan believes life would be great if he were one of the cool kids. He’d have the courage to talk to the cutest girl in school, fend off the school bully and overcome his fear of riding buses. His best friends, Reggie, Byron and Lou (Louise) wholeheartedly agree. Everything would be better if they were just different.

Life in middle school is hard on Luke and his friends until they obtain a magic elixir and go on a cross-country quest in search of what they are convinced will make them cool; a lock of hair from action movie hero, Dino Dynamite. Their journey becomes even riskier when they get mixed up in the world’s biggest jewel heist and must use bravado, ingenuity and their own emerging talents to out wit the mob, Feds and Russian agents.

What Luke and his friends learn on their journey is that the power of self-confidence is the only magic they really need, and that is truly discovering dynamite.