The Ultra Violets

PUBLISHERS WEEKLY MAR 25, 2013

In futuristic Sync City, seven-year-old best friends Cheri, Scarlet, Iris and Opaline are having a sleepover in the laboratory where their mothers work (taking Bring Your Daughter to Work Day to another level), when they accidentally get drenched in the "liquefied post-atomic hybrid particle" Heliotropium, "capable of altering any bio-organism on earth." Fast-forward four years, and the friends, who had drifted apart, reunite and discover that three of them have gained super powers. Mild-mannered Opal, the odd girl out, battles a growing resentment of the others, especially when Cheri accidentally attracts her crush. Meanwhile at the bio-cosmetic company where Opal's mother now works, mysterious mutants are multiplying. Soon the girls must graduate from stopping school bullies to facing down this threat. Appropriately, the story is printed in purple ink, and Battle's cartoon spot art has a definite Powerpuff Girls flair (Battle worked on that show and other Cartoon Network standbys). This lively first book in a planned series is an undeniably fun ride, but the giddily breathless narration may prove too hyperbolic for some, and many jokes and references are likely to fly over readers' heads. Ages 8 up.