kentmom's Full Review: Aaron Reynolds - Superhero School
I had high hopes for Aaron Reynold's Superhero School (Scholastic, 2009) and frankly, I didn't think it was all that super on first read. But my son, 5, loved it - which surprised me a bit.
For a picture book, Superhero School is a bit wordy and it includes some higher concepts than I expect to appeal to the "read-to-me" set. That said, it's not the first time I've been wrong about what a kid will think.
And my kid thought it was funny and cool. (His word was "Awesome.") It helps that a giant lava monster is featured on page 2, I'm sure, and frankly, he also seems to enjoy math far more than his mother ever did!
Still, I thought the appeal would wear off by page 7, when, after main character Leonard (sort of a wimpy name for a superhero, don't you think?) said he was excited about school, "fired up to leap tall builidngs in a single bound...super pumped up to bend steel beams...(and) revved up and raring to go to stop speeding runaway trains," he met his new teacher, The Blue Tornado.
"But instead of learning how to leap tall buildings, Leonard's class wrestled the times tables."
And after the brief introduction to multiplication, my son (and I) stuck with the book through a few lines about division, and fractions.
And then the superhero teachers all got kidnapped by the ice zombies! (Total spoiler comes next...stop if you don't want to know what happens.) The superhero students sprang into action to rescue them... and only later discovered it was an elaborate ploy to force the students to use their newly acquired math skills.
In spite of my misgivings - I guess I shouldn't be upset when I can see the method at work in a picture book, eh? - Reynolds packs a pretty involved story into a 32-page picture book format, and Andy Rash's illustrations are very good, suiting the comic book-like nature of the story. Even the built-in math lessons aren't didactic.
I recommend the book, then, for the 5-7 set, and find it especially fitting for those heading to school for the first time.
It s Math Curse meets The Incredibles !Leonard is no ordinary kid--he s enrolled in Superhero School, where leaping tall buildings in a single bound i...More at Buy.com Marketplaces
Epinions.com periodically updates pricing and product information from third-party sources, so some information may be slightly out-of-date. You should confirm all information before relying on it.
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.