At my library, I found about 30 different titles and they were located in the children's graphic novels section. Plus there is colorful artwork on every fourth page. Not only that, the stories are about superheroes, the stars of comic books. So, I decided this might be an interesting read to review for FCF.
The story has Darkseid hiring out the intergalactic bounty hunter Lobo to bring the Man of Steel to Apokolips so that the despot can finally do away with him. When Lobo then shows up in Metropolis causing havoc with a new laser-chain weapon it appears that things might be too much for Superman. But when Darkseid's son, Kalibak, double-crosses Lobo and captures both the Man of Tomorrow and the Czarnian Main Man, it may very well be Darkseid who will be the only doing all the suffering.
The story was fresh and fun. But it also brought back a little nostalgia for me. I grew up watching Superman: the Animated Series and some of my favorite episodes from the show involved Lobo and Darkseid fighting the Last Kryptonian. To my knowledge, the two adversaries never appeared in the same episode together. So this all-new story was like reading a script from a lost episode with some storyboards thrown in for good measure.
If I had a child, I would be all over this series. While I think comic books are the cat's pajamas, I feel that from time to time it is required to read something that's done in prose form. These books are a fun way to get kids to transition kids to reading more wordy works. I got started reading thanks to comics and went to readers and then to full-on chapter books. But when I was a kid, they didn't have anything like these readers ideal for 1st-4th graders. At least not anything with the world's greatest superheroes in them!
One neat thing about these books is the sound effects. While the story is written like a book, when Superman hits a bad guy with his fist (POW!) or the villian flies through a glass window (CRASH) the words are embellished like in the comics. (See picture example of these unique fonts.) It makes the reading experience all that more fun.
The way I see it the best method to get a child reading is to find them things that they would enjoy reading about. If your child loves superheroes, then you start with picture books and comics about them. Then you move on to readers like this. Then there's older kids chapter books and eventually 200-page plus works without pictures that star your favorite DC and Marvel heroes.
(By the way, you can pretty much substitute superheroes with any subject they desire and work them up to reading word only literature. It's how I learned to read and I have found in my experience as a former educator to be the best way to get children reading.) (JUST DON'T FORGET TO LET THEM RETURN TO COMICS WHENEVER THEY WANT.)
So besides the library, where can you find these DC Super Heroes readers? Amazon has dozens of different titles for less than $5 a book. Some titles can be bought used for as low as a penny plus shipping. There's also a companion series called DC Super Villains that star some of the more colorful rogues of the DC Universe like The Joker and Sinestro. Along with a glossary, discussion questions, and writing prompts, these readers will not only get your child interested in reading but might get them hooked on the creative process.
Who knows? These books might be training and inspiring the next generation of writers right now!
Worth Consuming
Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.
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