July 13, 2007 - What happens when a busy mother of two combines her love for Swiffer cleaning products and her passion for writing? Well, if she's Melanie Lynne Hauser, she writes a series of novels featuring a grime-fighting superhero who can clean - and save the world - with the power of 10,000 Swiffers.

In CONFESSIONS OF SUPER MOM, and its sequel, SUPER MOM SAVES THE WORLD (NAL/Penguin), Melanie has created a "superhero for the Swiffer generation." "I was interested in writing about issues affecting real women, the women I know, who are struggling to do it all - take care of the kids, clean the house, work, get up and do it all over again the next day. But sometimes writing about ordinary people isn't very interesting. So I decided to write about these issues from a superhero's perspective."

But every superhero has an Origin - the beginning of his or her saga. Melanie knew that her heroine would have to get her superpowers from somewhere. "I more than borrowed a page from Spider-Man™; my heroine would have a spectacular accident, which would leave her with a variety of unusual powers. But since she's a mom, I thought her accident should center around something we all do, every day. I happen to be a cleaning machine myself - it seems that's the one thing I spend the most time doing, particularly with two teenaged boys. So I decided her accident should center around that. Cleaning."

One day Hauser's husband came home from work. He'd just heard the oddest thing. While waiting in line at the bank, he overheard two women talking. "One of them told the other, 'I just used a Swiffer on my floor today.' And he thought that was the most interesting thing, that 'Swiffer' had become so popular. And as soon as he said that, I knew I had the beginning of my book. My heroine would suffer a cleaning calamity due to her overzealous use and devotion to her Swiffer WetJet."

Hauser herself is a longtime fan of Swiffer cleaning products. "Oh, yes, I use them all — the Swiffer Dusters are my favorite, especially the extendable ones because I'm short. And I was already a huge fan of the WetJet. And who wouldn't want to be able to clean with the power of ten thousand of them?"

And so Super Mom was born - an ordinary divorced mother of two teenagers who just happens, with the magical help of her Swiffer WetJet, to become a superhero. Fighting crime - and grime. Saving the world - and saving her family.

"I've been so grateful to Procter and Gamble for their marvelous sense of humor about this," Hauser says. "And the response has been overwhelming. I've been at book signings where the manager has run back to the storeroom to get a box of Swiffer Sweeper Dry Cloths, and I’ve signed them and given them to fans to use as bookmarks. I'm just so honored that women have responded to the book, have told me it speaks to them as mothers juggling all sorts of secret identities as they raise their children, and try not to lose themselves in the process. And everyone seems to really get a kick out of the Swiffer part. It just strikes such a chord."

Does she have plans for further adventures of Super Mom?

"Who knows?" she answers. "If people continue to embrace the books, I can't think of anything I'd rather do than continue to write about Super Mom and company. I've grown to love them so much. And there will always be evil to fight - not to mention dust bunnies!"

To read CONFESSIONS OF SUPER MOM and SUPER MOM SAVES THE WORLD, visit your local or online bookseller.