Books with author Michael S. Patterson

In this rollicking middle-grade adventure and national bestseller, Michael Fry's witty text and hysterical artwork combines superhero action with classic fish-out-of-water humor. Victor Spoil comes from a long line of famous supervillains and he's fully expected to join their ranks one day. But to his family's utter disappointment, Victor doesn't have a single bad-guy bone in his body. He won't run with scissors, he always finishes his peas, and he can't stand to be messy. Hopeless! As a last-ditch effort before they give up and let him be a -- gasp! -- civilian, Victor's exasperated parents send him to apprentice under a disgraced supervillain called The Smear. This matchup starts off as a complete disaster, but Victor and The Smear eventually find that they have a lot to learn from each other. When the stakes get high as Victor is forced to choose between his mentor and his family morals (or lack thereof) . . . what will the world's nicest bad guy do?

In this rollicking middle-grade adventure and national bestseller, Michael Fry's witty text and hysterical artwork combines superhero action with classic fish-out-of-water humor. Victor Spoil comes from a long line of famous supervillains and he's fully expected to join their ranks one day. But to his family's utter disappointment, Victor doesn't have a single bad-guy bone in his body. He won't run with scissors, he always finishes his peas, and he can't stand to be messy. Hopeless! As a last-ditch effort before they give up and let him be a -- gasp! -- civilian, Victor's exasperated parents send him to apprentice under a disgraced supervillain called The Smear. This matchup starts off as a complete disaster, but Victor and The Smear eventually find that they have a lot to learn from each other. When the stakes get high as Victor is forced to choose between his mentor and his family morals (or lack thereof) . . . what will the world's nicest bad guy do?

After years of frustrating fertility problems, Ellen and Eric Sommers are delighted when they find out they are expecting their first child. Their friends and family share their joy, but a stranger also revels in the news. Frank Mallory suffers his own frustrations in his attempts to become a family man and believes his destiny is to create a family by whatever means necessary, including murder.Michael S. Patterson grew up in Western Massachusetts and obtained his B.A. from Saint Michael’s College in Colchester, Vermont and his law degree from Loyola Law School. A former trial lawyer, he currently serves as in-house counsel for a television network. Michael, his wife Laura, and their three children live in Southern California. The Family Man is his first novel.

In this rollicking middle-grade adventure and national bestseller, Michael Fry's witty text and hysterical artwork combines superhero action with classic fish-out-of-water humor. Victor Spoil comes from a long line of famous supervillains and he's fully expected to join their ranks one day. But to his family's utter disappointment, Victor doesn't have a single bad-guy bone in his body. He won't run with scissors, he always finishes his peas, and he can't stand to be messy. Hopeless! As a last-ditch effort before they give up and let him be a -- gasp! -- civilian, Victor's exasperated parents send him to apprentice under a disgraced supervillain called The Smear. This matchup starts off as a complete disaster, but Victor and The Smear eventually find that they have a lot to learn from each other. When the stakes get high as Victor is forced to choose between his mentor and his family morals (or lack thereof) . . . what will the world's nicest bad guy do?

After years of frustrating fertility problems, Ellen and Eric Sommers are delighted when they find out they are expecting their first child. Friends and family share their joy, but a stranger also revels in the news. Frank Mallory suffered his own frustrations in his attempts to become a family man and believes his destiny is to create a family by whatever means necessary, including murder.Frank's maniacal fantasy unfolds as he kidnaps Ellen and plots Eric's demise by framing him for her murder, using blood and hair he extracts from his kidnap victim. The trail of evidence leads police to Ellen's husband, and the District Attorney indicts Eric for his wife's murder. Frank, meanwhile, secrets Ellen and her unborn child to his utopian existence - a cabin deep in the remote lake region of British Columbia. It's a race against time as Eric is on trial for murder and Frank's fantasy becomes Ellen's new reality.

A NATIONAL BESTSELLER for ten straight weeks! In this rollicking middle-grade adventure, Michael Fry's witty text and hysterical artwork combines superhero action with classic fish-out-of-water humor. Victor Spoil comes from a long line of famous supervillains and he's fully expected to join their ranks one day. But to his family's utter disappointment, Victor doesn't have a single bad-guy bone in his body. He won't run with scissors, he always finishes his peas, and he can't stand to be messy. Hopeless! As a last-ditch effort before they give up and let him be a--gasp!--civilian, Victor's exasperated parents send him to apprentice under a disgraced supervillain called The Smear. This matchup starts off as a complete disaster, but Victor and The Smear eventually find that they have a lot to learn from each other. When the stakes get high as Victor is forced to choose between his mentor and his family morals (or lack thereof)...what will the world's nicest bad guy do?

HEARTLAND was a one of five finalists out of nearly a thousand entries in the 2010 Young Adult Novel Discovery Contest sponsored by the Gotham Writers Workshop. Sixteen-year-old TOM ALLEN’s life is imploding. His father banished Tom from his life; Tom’s stepfather is entirely too interested in commenting on Tom’s behavior. What makes it worse is that his stepfather’s comments are usually right on target. Then Tom’s beloved grandma suffers a stroke, which leaves his mother emotionally distant. Meanwhile his older sister is too sophisticated to worry about his concerns. When Tom reads an old family memoir from his grandma’s cedar chest he becomes intrigued by his ancestors’ accounts of their struggle to form one unified family from two shattered families. They face man-made and natural dangers while they battle to survive smoldering conflicts in “Bleeding Kansas” that will soon erupt into the bloodiest war in American history — the Civil War. With the help of family and friends, past and present, Tom gradually comes to terms with the pain and possibilities of his own family.

In late January 2020, the first case of COVID-19 was diagnosed in the United States*. In mid-March, the Commonweath of Pennsylvania suspended school. In April, all 50 states had instituted some degree of a lockdown, restricting activity and initiating social distancing. Kyleigh had recently turned six years old, and was in the middle of her kindergarten year of school. With more time at home, one of her activities was to write and draw about how she spends her day during the pandemic, while practicing social distancing. This book was a result of her efforts.