Captain Awesome Gets Crushed

Stan Kirby's Captain Awesome Gets Crushed is a super silly superhero story for 5 year olds about a boy who's convinced all the hearts and pink are an evil plot.

What happens

Eugene McGillicudy is secretly Captain Awesome. His best friend Charlie is Nacho Cheese Man (he fights crime with squirty cheese from a can). Together they protect Sunnyview from bad guys. This is the ninth Captain Awesome book, and it starts on the best day of the week, New Comic Book Day.

But a girl has bought the last copy of the special Super Dude comic Eugene wanted. Then he looks around the mall. There's PINK everywhere! Hearts, ribbons, sparkly flowers. Pink is one of Captain Awesome's weaknesses, and his knees go wobbly like wet noodles.

It gets worse at school. Meredith Mooney, the pinkest girl in class, has a crush on Charlie and keeps giving him sweets. Charlie is quite happy about the free sweets. Their friend Sally has a secret admirer. And Eugene definitely, absolutely doesn't care who it is. (He cares a lot.)

Who hasn't made a big fuss about not caring about something? Little readers will spot straight away that Eugene is protesting far too much, and that's half the fun.

The book is packed with the sounds of a comic. BOING! GASP! SUPERTHUD! Some of them sit on a line all by themselves, which makes it great for reading aloud, and short chapters keep things moving for newer readers.

There's a nice little message tucked in as well. When the class Valentine's cupcake goes missing, Sally reminds Captain Awesome of something Super Dude once said about forgiving being heroic. He grumbles about it (of course) but he gets there.

The crush stuff is very gentle. It's mostly sweets, cards and a lot of blushing, all seen through the eyes of a boy who thinks the whole thing is a bit yucky.

If your reader likes superheroes, silly villains and school stories all rolled into one, they'll love this.

What to read next

For another Sunnyview mission, try Captain Awesome and the New Kid. A moving van pulls up at the end of Eugene's street, and he's certain the new family are alien spies. It's also the book where Sally first turns up in his class.