Captain Awesome Saves the Winter Wonderland

Stan Kirby's Captain Awesome Saves the Winter Wonderland is a superhero story for 5 year olds about a school play and a boy who would much rather be fighting crime.

What happens

Eugene McGillicudy is an ordinary second grader. He is also, secretly, Captain Awesome. His best friend Charlie is Nacho Cheese Man. Together they are the Sunnyview Superhero Squad and they are on duty at all times.

The trouble starts with an announcement. Before the winter break the school is putting on a holiday play. Eugene had been hoping for super zombie dinosaurs, but he adapts.

He and Charlie get into the Snowflake Symphony, back row, triangle and maracas. Perfect. From back there you can see the whole hall and spot villains.

Then Jake Story complains that Eugene's triangle is too loud and gets him moved. Obviously Jake is not a boy with an ear infection. Jake is the Whiny Whimperer.

Then the boy playing the Sunnyview Snowman catches flu, and guess who gets the big white ball with eye holes.

What makes this work is that nothing supernatural ever happens. Meredith Mooney, who wears pink shoelaces and thinks everything is too noisy, becomes Little Miss Stinky Pinky. Homework becomes the Homework Monster from Planet Textbook. It's just Eugene, narrating his own life at full volume.

Have you got a child who turns the walk home from school into a mission? They'll know exactly what he's up to.

The chapters are tiny and each one is headed "By Eugene", so it feels like he's writing it himself. TING. SHAKE-SHAKE. BAMMITY-BAM. Lots of words in capitals, lots of noises on their own line.

That makes it a good one for a reader who has just moved off picture books and still wants the pages to turn fast. Reading it out loud is genuinely fun, if you don't mind doing the triangle.

It's an American school, so it's second grade and winter break, but nothing in it needs explaining. There's nothing frightening, nobody gets hurt and the worst thing anyone does is complain.

What to read next

If they'd like more of the pair, Captain Awesome and the New Kid is in the library. This time Sally Williams turns up at Sunnyview and the Squad has to work out whether she's friend or foe, which takes them rather longer than it needs to.