The reader is introduced to ordinary fourth grader, Jo Schmo, when suddenly Jo receives a red cape in the mail from Uncle George, who is retiring from being a superhero. “Use it well,” writes Uncle George. Grandpa Joe, who lives in the shack behind Jo’s house, helps trim the cape down to Jo’s ankles. The extra fabric lands on Jo’s dog, Raymond – Jo’s new sidekick! The cape’s instruction manual says “to fly” think lofty thoughts. After crashing several times, Jo gives up on flying for the time being. Jo is able to stop trains – “it’s all in the wrist” – permanently.

Enter Dr. Dastardly, who wants to bring dinosaurs back to life with his Re-animator Laminator, so he can take over San Francisco and then the world. Before meeting up with Dr. Dastardly, Grandpa Joe texts Jo (who is in school at the time) about a bank robbery happening at that very minute. Jo and Raymond leave school ( on a bathroom break) to try to stop it. The robbers get away. Jo catches the two bank robbers in ” ‘the longest bathroom break in U.S. history,’ said Mrs. Freep. ‘What did you do, fall in?’  ” (p. 54) After stopping several more crimes, Jo and Raymond meet up with Dr. Dastardly at the museum of natural history. They are able to stop the dinosaurs( Dr. Dastardly has brought to life) and Dr. Dastardly. As chapter 21 comes to a close, Jo has finally unraveled her ‘lofty’ thoughts and is able to fly. “Tomorrow there would be more problems to face in the city, more villains to catch, more crimes to stop, and Jo Schmo would be ready to face them. But for now, there was only one thing on her mind.           Sponge cake. (p. 105)      [It is lofty.]

Stay tuned for book #2 of The Adventures of Jo Schmo.