Billy Sure, Kid Entrepreneur

In this peppy series launch, 12-year-old Billy Sure and his best friend Manny are done “floating under the radar, trying not to get stuffed into lockers by the older kids.” Billy becomes an instant, though reluctant, celebrity after inventing the “All Ball,” which can morph into a variety of sports balls. Billy’s teachers fawn over him, his classmates bombard him with invention ideas, and Manny pressures him to invent another contraption for their company, Sure Things Inc. Meanwhile, Billy has a secret that adds to his anxiety: the blueprints for the All Ball inexplicably appeared on his desk one morning. As the deadline approaches for completing his second invention, the Sibling Silencer, Billy becomes increasingly terrified of being exposed as a fraud. Fun banter among Billy, his peers, and his acerbic older sister, Emily, keep this brisk story rolling, while Ross’s scribbled marginalia and spot illustrations (not all seen by PW) are in keeping with the kid-founded, garage-based entrepreneurism of Sure Things Inc. Billy Sure, Kid Entrepreneur and the Stink Drink pubs simultaneously. Final art not seen by PW. Ages 8–12. (May)