KAPOW!

An imaginative comic-book romp turns a little boy and his friend into superheroes who fight crime and make a little mayhem in the process. Single-panel pages depict the “real world,” as the costumed kids (American Eagle and Bug Lady) zoom through the house; their imagined derring-do takes up full-bleed, double-page spreads, the children transformed into their well-muscled hero avatars. Disaster predictably ensues as they take on the Rubber Bandit—the little boy’s brother, clad in oversized sweatshirt—and manage to knock over a bookcase (“Ooooh, now you’ve done it!”). American Eagle displays true heroism as he ’fesses up to his mom, and then all the kids cooperate to set the living room to rights. O’Connor happily uses every comic-book cliché imaginable, from giant graphic sound effects (“KER-RASH”) and speech balloons to impossible perspectives, jutting jaws and clenched teeth, and the handy-dandy “meanwhile” box. Kids will love the juxtaposition of the real and imagined worlds, as well as the only slightly exaggerated sibling relationship. The tidy ending is entirely suited to the medium of Truth, Justice, and the American Way. (Picture book. 5-8)