Boys of Steel

Boys of Steel by Marc Tyler Nobleman is a true story for 7 year olds about the two shy boys who made up Superman.

What happens

Jerry Siegel walked into school staring at the floor. His friends were Tarzan, Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers, and none of them were real.

None of them could help, either. His father had died during a robbery at his clothing shop in Cleveland. Millions of people had no work. Jerry read adventure stories every evening and every weekend, and it didn't make him miss his dad less, but it took his mind off it for a bit.

Joe Shuster was short and shy and bad at sports too. He drew instead of writing. When his family couldn't afford art paper he used wrapping paper from the butcher's, or the back of old wallpaper. Their flat had no heating, so in winter he drew in two coats and gloves.

A teacher told Jerry his stories were trash.

Then one hot night in 1934 Jerry couldn't sleep. What if I was real terrific, he thought. What if I could jump over buildings? He kept getting up to write things down, all night long. In the morning he pulled his clothes on over his pyjamas and ran nine and a half blocks to Joe's flat.

They put an S on the chest. For super, and for Siegel and Shuster.

Then publishers said no for more than three years.

It's the details that make this one. The breadboard Joe used as a drawing desk. The gloves. The fact that two boys who felt invisible invented somebody who wears glasses so nobody guesses what he really is.

The story part is short, picture-book length rather than chapter-book length. After it ends there's a long factual afterword that carries on for about as many words again.

That afterword is where you want to take a look first. It's written for much older readers, and it's not a happy business. Jerry and Joe sold every right to Superman for $130 because they were worried nobody else would print it. They sued, lost, got fired, and had their names taken off their own creation. One of them ended up working as a mail clerk. It's a genuinely interesting story about who gets paid, but it's a different book from the one in front of it, and a seven year old will probably want you to read it with them or skip it for now.

The other thing to flag sits on the first page, where Jerry's dad dies in a robbery. It's given in one sentence and never dwelt on.

What to read next

For a reader who comes away wanting a comics-obsessed hero of their own, My Brother Is a Superhero has Luke Parker, who knows everything about every superhero ever drawn, watching his extremely annoying older brother get the powers instead.