Wears its agenda on its sleeve—but not heavily enough to tear the spandex.
There’s a newcomer in the Fortress of Awesome, and Awesome Man doesn’t (want to) like it one bit.
Having given their costumed legend-in-his-own-mind both anger issues to work through and a (poorly preserved) secret identity in The Astonishing Secret of Awesome Man (2011), Chabon and Parker truck in a new challenge. Rumors of a rival superhero coming to town (who could it be? Steel Tornado? Glue Girl?) pitch Awesome Man into a funk. At first it looks like his worst fears are realized. Losing his colorful costume and chiseled physique in the shiny, bright scenes to become a seemingly ordinary lad, he accompanies younger sib “Sister Sinister” into the house to meet…bald, ultratiny Captain Stinky. Awesome Man is unimpressed—until, that is, the interloper exhibits multiple superpowers, including an impressive scream and a green and mucky Slime Blast. “Maybe the new kid is going to be okay!” The parentally suggested prospect of being followed around by an adoring little brother confirms this attitude change (“I didn’t know I was getting a sidekick!”), and by the end, Captain Stinky has been transformed to Awesome Boy. The transition occurs with unlikely speed, but most young crime fighters and world savers with growing families of their own will both understand Awesome Man’s anxiety and agree that family changes are better embraced than fought.
Wears its agenda on its sleeve—but not heavily enough to tear the spandex. (Picture book. 5-7)Pub Date: Sept. 29, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-06-287509-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Quill Tree Books/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: June 29, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A retro-futuristic romp, literally and figuratively screwy.
Robo-parents Diode and Lugnut present daughter Cathode with a new little brother—who requires, unfortunately, some assembly.
Arriving in pieces from some mechanistic version of Ikea, little Flange turns out to be a cute but complicated tyke who immediately falls apart…and then rockets uncontrollably about the room after an overconfident uncle tinkers with his basic design. As a squad of helpline techies and bevies of neighbors bearing sludge cake and like treats roll in, the cluttered and increasingly crowded scene deteriorates into madcap chaos—until at last Cath, with help from Roomba-like robodog Sprocket, stages an intervention by whisking the hapless new arrival off to a backyard workshop for a proper assembly and software update. “You’re such a good big sister!” warbles her frazzled mom. Wiesner’s robots display his characteristic clean lines and even hues but endearingly look like vaguely anthropomorphic piles of random jet-engine parts and old vacuum cleaners loosely connected by joints of armored cable. They roll hither and thither through neatly squared-off panels and pages in infectiously comical dismay. Even the end’s domestic tranquility lasts only until Cathode spots the little box buried in the bigger one’s packing material: “TWINS!” (This book was reviewed digitally with 9-by-22-inch double-page spreads viewed at 52% of actual size.)
A retro-futuristic romp, literally and figuratively screwy. (Picture book. 5-7)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-544-98731-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: June 2, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2020
A tongue-in-cheek bildungsroman about celebrating differences and the underrated superpowers of gentleness and sweetness.
Kaijus—giant Godzilla-like creatures—are supposed to have fearsome powers like atomic breath, the ability to summon storms, and magnetism—but not young Anzu.
Instead, he was born with the power of finding “beauty in small things.” Finally old enough to be assigned his own personal city to terrorize, Anzu hopes to impress his fond parents. But instead of inflicting fiery destruction on the tiny kodamalike residents at his feet, the best he can do is rain garlands of flowers down on them. He tries to wreak havoc by uprooting a tree but instead ends up creating a peaceful playground of blossoming animal topiaries. “I’ll never strike fear,” Anzu frets. “Am I even a kaiju?” Young readers may well share his doubts since, despite towering over the city of lumpy buildings made from low mounds of dirt, he and his family look more like cute, plump stuffies than scary reptilian beasts. When Anzu does at last manage a little devastation, his feeling of triumph is short-lived—and so, to restore joy and laughter, he exerts his special flower powers with surprising, and satisfying, results. The text is engaging and heartwarming without being cloying. The bright, colorful illustrations are rendered in watercolor and ink. Full-bleed artwork is interspersed with panels, which, along with the use of narrative boxes, lend a graphic feel to the presentation.
A tongue-in-cheek bildungsroman about celebrating differences and the underrated superpowers of gentleness and sweetness. (Graphic picture book. 5-7)Pub Date: Jan. 11, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-250-77612-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
Review Posted Online: Dec. 15, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2022
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