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Rodeo Hawkins #1
Rodeo Hawkins and the Daughters of Mayhem: A Graphic Novel
Foster kid Sidney Poblocki is thrilled to learn his destiny is to save the multiverse—until he discovers it’s actually his destiny to destroy it—in this fantasy adventure graphic novel!
Get ready for Mayhem!
When Sidney Poblocki runs away from his troubled home life, he winds up in a whole new world of trouble. Why are interdimensional assassins after him along with every other kid named Sidney Poblocki throughout the multiverse? Will he ever see his best bud Walt again now that Walt’s memory of Sidney has been erased? And what the heck is the deal with Rodeo Hawkins and her ragtag gang of mischief-making girls the Daughters of Mayhem?!
They claim they’re trying to keep him safe, but Sidney isn’t so certain “safe” is even in their vocabulary. As Sidney is swept into a series of misadventures that will change the multiverse forever, one thing is for certain: with Rodeo Hawkins around, his life is about to be filled with a lot more mayhem.
Get ready for Mayhem!
When Sidney Poblocki runs away from his troubled home life, he winds up in a whole new world of trouble. Why are interdimensional assassins after him along with every other kid named Sidney Poblocki throughout the multiverse? Will he ever see his best bud Walt again now that Walt’s memory of Sidney has been erased? And what the heck is the deal with Rodeo Hawkins and her ragtag gang of mischief-making girls the Daughters of Mayhem?!
They claim they’re trying to keep him safe, but Sidney isn’t so certain “safe” is even in their vocabulary. As Sidney is swept into a series of misadventures that will change the multiverse forever, one thing is for certain: with Rodeo Hawkins around, his life is about to be filled with a lot more mayhem.
272 pages, Paperback
Published September 9, 2025
About the author
John Claude Bemis
15 books64 followersFrom the author website;
I’ve always been fascinated by trains. My grandfather hopped trains all over the country in his “hobo days” and filled my head with curious stories of America’s lost past. Those stories, I suppose, were the beginnings of my first novel, The Nine Pound Hammer.
I grew up in rural eastern North Carolina by a swampy creek on the Neuse River. Yes, I’ve been bitten by a water moccasin, but fortunately not by an alligator. When you live in a county with just one stoplight, you learn how to entertain yourself. As a kid, I read a lot, played in tobacco barns, swam in the river when the jellyfish weren’t too thick, and learned violin and guitar.
Eventually playing classical violin in youth orchestras and playing electric guitar in a bunch of terrible rock and punk bands led me to American roots music. I’m partial nowadays to vintage country or blues, Cajun or bluegrass, anything with a fiddle or a musical saw. Some friends and I formed a band Hooverville and put out a pair of CDs of original songs. They’re fun to listen to if you like that kind of music.
At UNC-Chapel Hill, I studied Art History and Elementary Education. I taught elementary school for twelve years, mostly 4th and 5th grades as well as being a Gifted Education resource teacher. I got a chance in the classroom to teach the books I loved so much as a kid and discovered a lot of incredible new children’s literature along the way. But something seemed to be missing from my class’s bookshelf: fantasy based on America’s folklore.
Through old-timey music, I became fascinated with the way America’s myths have been passed down through songs. Drawing on the legend of John Henry’s struggle against the steam drill, I thought about how Southern folklore could be turned into epic fantasy. This passion grew into my first novel, The Nine Pound Hammer, a story set in a mythical 19th-century America full of traveling hoodoo conjurers, cowboys, swamp mermaids, and steamboat pirates. The adventures continue in The Wolf Tree and The White City, the other books in the Clockwork Dark trilogy.
I live the small-town life in Hillsborough, North Carolina with my wife, Amy, and daughter, Rose. We spend a lot of time hiking on the trails around our house, going into town for chocolates and coffees, or encouraging our overweight cat Max to run around some.
I’ve always been fascinated by trains. My grandfather hopped trains all over the country in his “hobo days” and filled my head with curious stories of America’s lost past. Those stories, I suppose, were the beginnings of my first novel, The Nine Pound Hammer.
I grew up in rural eastern North Carolina by a swampy creek on the Neuse River. Yes, I’ve been bitten by a water moccasin, but fortunately not by an alligator. When you live in a county with just one stoplight, you learn how to entertain yourself. As a kid, I read a lot, played in tobacco barns, swam in the river when the jellyfish weren’t too thick, and learned violin and guitar.
Eventually playing classical violin in youth orchestras and playing electric guitar in a bunch of terrible rock and punk bands led me to American roots music. I’m partial nowadays to vintage country or blues, Cajun or bluegrass, anything with a fiddle or a musical saw. Some friends and I formed a band Hooverville and put out a pair of CDs of original songs. They’re fun to listen to if you like that kind of music.
At UNC-Chapel Hill, I studied Art History and Elementary Education. I taught elementary school for twelve years, mostly 4th and 5th grades as well as being a Gifted Education resource teacher. I got a chance in the classroom to teach the books I loved so much as a kid and discovered a lot of incredible new children’s literature along the way. But something seemed to be missing from my class’s bookshelf: fantasy based on America’s folklore.
Through old-timey music, I became fascinated with the way America’s myths have been passed down through songs. Drawing on the legend of John Henry’s struggle against the steam drill, I thought about how Southern folklore could be turned into epic fantasy. This passion grew into my first novel, The Nine Pound Hammer, a story set in a mythical 19th-century America full of traveling hoodoo conjurers, cowboys, swamp mermaids, and steamboat pirates. The adventures continue in The Wolf Tree and The White City, the other books in the Clockwork Dark trilogy.
I live the small-town life in Hillsborough, North Carolina with my wife, Amy, and daughter, Rose. We spend a lot of time hiking on the trails around our house, going into town for chocolates and coffees, or encouraging our overweight cat Max to run around some.
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
September 17, 2025
Delightful. A hilarious, fast-paced graphic novel about a tween boy named Sidney Poblocki—the only remaining Sidney Poblocki in the multiverse—who is swept up in a cosmic conflict between the Paladins (4 self-described righteous champions) and the mysterious Rodeo Hawkins and her ragtag Daughters of Mayhem.
My 12-year-old took this out for a test drive, vanished for 2 hours and reemerged with two declarations: “It was funny” and he “really liked it.” If you knew James you’d know that is a glowing 5-star review. Gushy, he ain’t.
As for me, I devoured it. It’s brisk, extremely funny and the illustrations by Nicole Miles complement the story’s tone and style. It has a little bit of everything—magic powers, ancient demons of yore, prophecies, shockingly strong bubble gum, seedy dives, inter-dimensional portals, addled oracles, and a Plunger of Truth! It also has a lot of heart and friendship. Bemis knows how to toggle between belly laughs and moments that make you care about the characters and want to spend more time with them. Which I why I’m happy to hear that there’s a sequel in the works!
RODEO HAWKINS AND THE DAUGHTERS OF MAYHEM comes highly recommended from the Neffs and we urge you to pick up a copy right away. The fate of the multiverse may depend on it!
My 12-year-old took this out for a test drive, vanished for 2 hours and reemerged with two declarations: “It was funny” and he “really liked it.” If you knew James you’d know that is a glowing 5-star review. Gushy, he ain’t.
As for me, I devoured it. It’s brisk, extremely funny and the illustrations by Nicole Miles complement the story’s tone and style. It has a little bit of everything—magic powers, ancient demons of yore, prophecies, shockingly strong bubble gum, seedy dives, inter-dimensional portals, addled oracles, and a Plunger of Truth! It also has a lot of heart and friendship. Bemis knows how to toggle between belly laughs and moments that make you care about the characters and want to spend more time with them. Which I why I’m happy to hear that there’s a sequel in the works!
RODEO HAWKINS AND THE DAUGHTERS OF MAYHEM comes highly recommended from the Neffs and we urge you to pick up a copy right away. The fate of the multiverse may depend on it!
September 9, 2025
Such a fun and hilarious adventure for all young readers (and those young at heart!). Bemis brings us a compelling, unputdownable story that follows an unlikely hero, Sidney, and his new found protectors the Daughters of Mayhem. There's hi-jinks, secret clubhouses, space battles, and plungers (yes, a literal plunger) that will keep you turning the page.
Bemis has mastered middle grade humor with jokes that will make you laugh out loud including a few of my favorites, "what in the hello helicopter", "you tried hummus once", and "maybe it would have been quicker to blow up Saturn".
Intertwined with this humor is a story about inner strength and friendship for both young boys and girls.
Paired with Miles' wacky and beautiful illustrations (see Bugbear's face at the bottom of pg. 63!), this story comes alive and will have kids wanting to read it over and over.
I do wish Bugbear spoke, but her personality shines through her actions.
5/5 Don't miss out on this one!
Bemis has mastered middle grade humor with jokes that will make you laugh out loud including a few of my favorites, "what in the hello helicopter", "you tried hummus once", and "maybe it would have been quicker to blow up Saturn".
Intertwined with this humor is a story about inner strength and friendship for both young boys and girls.
Paired with Miles' wacky and beautiful illustrations (see Bugbear's face at the bottom of pg. 63!), this story comes alive and will have kids wanting to read it over and over.
I do wish Bugbear spoke, but her personality shines through her actions.
5/5 Don't miss out on this one!
November 30, 2025
ARC provided by Young Adult Books Central
Sidney Poblocki has finally found a foster care placements where he has a friend, Walt, but things go bad quickly when a group identifying themselves as Paladins appear out of thin air and tell him that they have to take him away to train with them! He ends up in their world, but is relegated to a dungeon, which doesn't seem quite right. Sure enough, Rodeo Hawkins, who identifies herself as a Daughter of Mayhem, shows up and claims that the Paladins have killed a number of other Sidney Poblocki's, and he is the last one standing in their way. She whisks him off to the treehouse fortress of her "femininjas", who are a bit put out that this Sidney is a boy. They try to explain the multiverse to him, and that fact that they are currently in the WoBeWo; the World Between Worlds, where things go when they vanish from other worlds. The Paladins release 400 dragonfly spies to try to locate Sidney, and Sidney meets up with Chainsaw Charlie as well as Madame Zoltana, who is working with the Paladins and won't tell him the prophecy in which he is mentioned. The Paladins eventually locate the treehouse, which leads to an altercation in the forest, where the Paladins tell Rodeo that if she hands over Sidney, everyone else can go free. Sidney manages to muster powers to bring everyone into his plane of existence on Earth, where they manage to regroup. Rodeo discovers that there are demon lords still around, even though the Paladins claim to have dispatched them, and Sidney comes up with a plan to steal the necklace that binds them and send them into a black hole. Will the Daughters of Mayhem keep the multiverse from imploding, and if they do, how will they feel about Sidney becoming one of their ranks?
Multiverse stories are often frenetic and goofy, and this graphic novel is no exception. There is a being from another planet who manifests herself as a 1950s style robot named Go, Bugbear, who seems to speak a language everyone but Sidney can understand, and two girls named Tori, one of whom has green, leafy hair that lets her synthesize food! Rodeo seems to have a lot of unrelated side missions that occasionally pop up, like when she sends Sidney to demand a vanilla soda from Chainsaw Charlie as a distraction so she can threaten him because he owes her money, or when we find out that she was raised by the cave lion Mama Onca. With so much going on, it makes perfect sense to have demon lords suddenly appear and need to be sealed in the shadow dimension!
Miles' illustrations (which also show up in McAnulty's Save the People and Where are the Aliens?, Rubin's The Ice Cream Machine, Jewell's The Anti Racist Kid, and Ross' Alley and Rex) have a great teen look to them, and show the various levels of the multiverse to good effect. I'll be interested to see a final edition with full color, since Tori's green hair is no doubt spectacular!
While there are several middle grade novels that deal with multiverses, like Wilson's Me vs. The Multiverse, Caprara's Mission Multiverse, Lubar's Emperor of the Universe series, and Cypess and Molebash's Future Me Saves the Universe, this is the first graphic novel treatment of that theme I have seen. Fans of goofy, fantastical romps like Barnett and Harris' The First Cat in Space Ate Pizza or Angelberger's The Two Headed Chicken will love following Sidney's adventures with Rodeo as he tries to avoid being killed by the Paladins!
Sidney Poblocki has finally found a foster care placements where he has a friend, Walt, but things go bad quickly when a group identifying themselves as Paladins appear out of thin air and tell him that they have to take him away to train with them! He ends up in their world, but is relegated to a dungeon, which doesn't seem quite right. Sure enough, Rodeo Hawkins, who identifies herself as a Daughter of Mayhem, shows up and claims that the Paladins have killed a number of other Sidney Poblocki's, and he is the last one standing in their way. She whisks him off to the treehouse fortress of her "femininjas", who are a bit put out that this Sidney is a boy. They try to explain the multiverse to him, and that fact that they are currently in the WoBeWo; the World Between Worlds, where things go when they vanish from other worlds. The Paladins release 400 dragonfly spies to try to locate Sidney, and Sidney meets up with Chainsaw Charlie as well as Madame Zoltana, who is working with the Paladins and won't tell him the prophecy in which he is mentioned. The Paladins eventually locate the treehouse, which leads to an altercation in the forest, where the Paladins tell Rodeo that if she hands over Sidney, everyone else can go free. Sidney manages to muster powers to bring everyone into his plane of existence on Earth, where they manage to regroup. Rodeo discovers that there are demon lords still around, even though the Paladins claim to have dispatched them, and Sidney comes up with a plan to steal the necklace that binds them and send them into a black hole. Will the Daughters of Mayhem keep the multiverse from imploding, and if they do, how will they feel about Sidney becoming one of their ranks?
Multiverse stories are often frenetic and goofy, and this graphic novel is no exception. There is a being from another planet who manifests herself as a 1950s style robot named Go, Bugbear, who seems to speak a language everyone but Sidney can understand, and two girls named Tori, one of whom has green, leafy hair that lets her synthesize food! Rodeo seems to have a lot of unrelated side missions that occasionally pop up, like when she sends Sidney to demand a vanilla soda from Chainsaw Charlie as a distraction so she can threaten him because he owes her money, or when we find out that she was raised by the cave lion Mama Onca. With so much going on, it makes perfect sense to have demon lords suddenly appear and need to be sealed in the shadow dimension!
Miles' illustrations (which also show up in McAnulty's Save the People and Where are the Aliens?, Rubin's The Ice Cream Machine, Jewell's The Anti Racist Kid, and Ross' Alley and Rex) have a great teen look to them, and show the various levels of the multiverse to good effect. I'll be interested to see a final edition with full color, since Tori's green hair is no doubt spectacular!
While there are several middle grade novels that deal with multiverses, like Wilson's Me vs. The Multiverse, Caprara's Mission Multiverse, Lubar's Emperor of the Universe series, and Cypess and Molebash's Future Me Saves the Universe, this is the first graphic novel treatment of that theme I have seen. Fans of goofy, fantastical romps like Barnett and Harris' The First Cat in Space Ate Pizza or Angelberger's The Two Headed Chicken will love following Sidney's adventures with Rodeo as he tries to avoid being killed by the Paladins!
March 26, 2026
⭐️⭐️⭐️/5. This is a wild ride. The main character is a foster kid who decides to accompany some paladins who tell him they’re going to train him. However, they’re trying to kill him, and this sass superbeing, Rodeo Hawkins, tracks him down with a magical tracker she put on him (it looks like she wrote “dork” on his forehead but don’t worry, it actually says “dark). So he’s over here playing sidekick, trying to stay alive and help her with some missions. Rodeo reminded me of Nimona (IYKYK), and this is great for kids who are established sci-fi readers. #mglit #graphicnovel #librarian #librariansofinstagram #middleschoollibrarian
December 13, 2025
“So, the first cool thing is that everyone thinks this girl is dead and then on the next page she’s just like wow I just got smashed by a car.
And then there’s these people that say they are heroes but they are bad guys to trick some people.
At one part one of the weird guys was like ‘it bet it was easier to explode Saturn.’
This book was really funny.”
My nine year old had such a good time reading this be started it again immediately upon finishing.
Thank you so much @penguinteenca for this graphic novel! It was such a fun surprise for my eldest 🤍
September 16, 2025
Sidney Poblocki is shuffled from one foster home to another. Something always goes wrong. But when he decides to run away before he can be moved again, things really go sideways. Rodeo Hawkins and the Daughters of Mayhem show up out of a portal from nowhere to "rescue" him, before they are overcome by a group of Interdimensional Paladins who also claim to be there to save him. Why is he so darned important? And who exactly can he trust? Lots of fun.
December 26, 2025
A multi-verse romp: are the bad guys the knightly paladins? Or are the bad guys the chaos-filled Rodeo Hawkins and her band? Who really is Rodeo Hawkins? And why is everyone after Sidney Poblocki? Lots of fun, especially if you can live with uncertainty and the "good" guys not really getting away with it.
January 16, 2026
"Readers will root for Sidney as he learns whom to trust and discovers that it’s his destiny to travel the multiverse in a series of misadventures to discover his potential. " [School Library Journal]
September 12, 2025
It was awesome! I liked how weird and cool it was. Rodeo Hawkins is a great character. I can't wait to read the second book.
November 19, 2025
This was one of the weirdest books that I’ve ever read. I do encourage someone else to read it, but it just wasn’t for me.
April 17, 2026
Great book
May 7, 2026
I wasn’t sure what to expect at first, but time travel, mystery, and the multiverse? Sign me up! Love the twist with the Sidney Poblockis all being girls except the LAST Sidney Poblocki 🤣 and that makes the Daughters of Mayhem even funnier! What a hilarious mix up, lol. I’m super pumped this is just book one, because I think there’s so much to explore here! What happens next? Who is Rodeo, really? And will Sidney’s friend ever remember him?
The art was not typical à la Raina Telgemeier, and I liked it more for that! Easily readable!
Definitely a middle school book- I’d recommend this to 5th - 8th grade, boys or girls, definitely for fans of adventure, sci-fi, and magic!
The art was not typical à la Raina Telgemeier, and I liked it more for that! Easily readable!
Definitely a middle school book- I’d recommend this to 5th - 8th grade, boys or girls, definitely for fans of adventure, sci-fi, and magic!
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews