HOW I BECAME CHAMPION OF THE UNIVERSE

Call it the WWF for preschoolers, if you will, but with cream pies and squirt guns instead of body slams and head locks. Harrison renders wrestling an innocuous contact sport in this charming debut. “I love wrestling,” declares the young narrator. “I wrestle all the time.” Colorful, computer-generated spreads picture the boy wrestling with his dog, big sister, best friend, and dad. Later, father and son attend a bout between Mighty Max and Atom Smasher, two pumped-up extraterrestrials. When Atom Smasher cheats by blowing space dust in his opponent’s face, the narrator gets mad—and gets even—by climbing into the ring himself. Harrison, an illustrator for the New Orleans Times-Picayune places the mismatched duo—Atom Smasher and the narrator—against a dramatic black background. A quartet of panels shows the boy as he unleashes his secret weapon and overcomes his opponent. It’s a nonviolent, humorous, and happy outcome that youngsters will find immensely satisfying; the perfect antidote to WWF fever. (Picture book. 3-5)