Captain Awesome to the Rescue by Stan Kirby
Illustrated by George O'Connor. 104 p. Little Simon, an Imprint of Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing Division, April, 2012. (Free finished copy received at ALA Annual courtesy of publisher.)
Fighting bad guys is a full-time job and one never knows when one will pop up. One may even find oneself living with one in the form of an evil baby sister. In Eugene McGullicuddy's case, his nemesis is Queen Stinkypants. But, since he's new to town, he's on hyperalert. Even his new teacher has potential evil bad guy-ness. But she turns out to be a good guy when she lets Eugene take Turbo, who happens to be a perfect sidekick, home. But, uh-oh, Turbo goes missing and this is surely a case for Captain Awesome!
This is cute in that adorable, rambling, stream-of-consciousness two-year-old kind of way. It will have appeal considering the large font, generous white space and many energetic, humorous comics-style illustrations. Not as silly and irreverent as the Captain Underpants series and the like. Should appeal to the superhero in every kid, but especially struggling or reluctant readers or those kids who like(d) to sport capes back in the day. (I had two.) The first in a series, volumes 2 - 4 are already available, with volume 5 due to drop in August.