Captain Awesome Has the Best Snow Day Ever?

Stan Kirby's snowy superhero story for 5 year olds, about a day off school when nobody else will come out to play, is Captain Awesome Has the Best Snow Day Ever?

What happens

When he's not in class, Eugene McGillicudy is Captain Awesome. Charlie and Sally make up the rest of the Sunnyview Superhero Squad, and the three of them keep the town safe from evil (or what Eugene decides is evil, which is nearly everything).

It starts in class with a folded note in Eugene's desk. He's quite sure it's a hypnotising spell from a comic-book villain, so he tries to sneak it into the bin. Ms Beasley has Teacher Radar. It doesn't go well.

Then the snow comes. Eugene wakes up and something's wrong. It's quiet. Too quiet. His school clothes aren't laid out and it's already half past eight. SNOW DAY!

Charlie and Sally are in the kitchen before he's even had his pancakes. So the Squad head out on patrol. The only creature lurking in the bushes turns out to be a perfectly ordinary squirrel, and Sally decides that even evil's having a day off.

Next they knock on their friends' doors. Nobody wants to come out. One's watching telly. One has a new robot dog. One just says "Hot. Chocolate. And marshmallows." (Charlie points out that's four words.)

Who stays in on a snow day?! The three of them can't believe it. Then Charlie's snowball runs away down the street with Sally clinging on top, and the day starts to get going.

There's a giant snowman to build (Sally would like it called a snowfriend, thank you). There's sledging, where Meredith Mooney turns up with a pink sled that makes doughnuts. And there's a snowfriend in the front garden who looks a little bit meaner by the time they get home.

Eugene's logic is the best bit. One empty street and a grumpy-looking snowman, and he's got the whole evil plan worked out in his head.

It's very much a comic book on paper too. SPLAT! SPLOTCH! BACKPACK! UNZIP! CAPE! Lots of noises on their own line, lots of capitals and short chapters that move fast.

If you've got a reader who presses their nose to the window at the first flake, they'll know exactly how Eugene feels. There's a gentle nudge towards getting outside, too, without any lecturing.

What to read next

If they'd like another wintry one, Captain Awesome Saves the Winter Wonderland has Eugene and Charlie in the school winter play, with a triangle played VERY loudly and a snowman costume Eugene definitely didn't ask for.