An overuse of exclamation points keeps the adrenaline running without a steady stream of exciting events-or even a climax and resolution-but with the large, bold type and the cute illustrations full of personality, emerging readers will be happy to read this book independently. Freckled, brown-skinned, curly-fro–sporting Mia is an adorable protagonist. Mia embarrasses herself in front of everyone during the entrance exam but ends up feeling supported and ready to learn…in the next volume. As if that weren’t enough of a shock, Mia’s parents deliver the thrilling news that they are superheroes too! Her father is fluent in animal speech, and her mother can fly.
It turns out her accidents are often results of her superpowers, which she will learn to hone in her after-school hours at the PITS. Except now she’s received an unusual letter, inviting her to the Program for In Training Superheroes, and she is totally bowled over. Mia Macarooney is “a total disaster machine.” Everywhere she goes, chaos and mayhem follow (literally, in the case of Chaos-that’s the name of her cat). In this first volume of a new chapter-book series, a little girl named Mia discovers she’s a superhero. The ending hints at another hero, the Goat Avenger.Īction, clever humor, delightful illustrations and expectation-defying secret identities-when does the next one come out? The large print and illustrations expand the book to a longish-yet-manageable length, giving newly independent readers a sense of accomplishment. Watching the fight, Duff notices suspicious similarities between the Princess in Black and Magnolia-quickly dismissed as “a silly idea”-much like the duchess’s dismissal of some discovered black stockings as being simply dirty, as “princesses don’t wear black.” The gently ironic text will amuse readers (including adults reading the book aloud). When the monster refuses to see reason, Magnolia fights him, using special moves like the “Sparkle Slam” and the “Twinkle Twinkle Little Smash.” The rounded, cartoony illustrations featuring chubby characters keep the fight sequence soft and comical. After a costume change, the Princess in Black joins her steed, Blacky (public identity: Frimplepants the unicorn), to protect Duff the goat boy and his goats from a shaggy, blue, goat-eating monster. She must save the day, leaving the duchess unattended in her castle.
But then Magnolia’s monster alarm, a glitter-stone ring, goes off. When nosy Duchess Wigtower unexpectedly drops by Princess Magnolia’s castle, Magnolia must protect her secret identity from the duchess’s prying. Perfect Princess Magnolia has a secret-her alter ego is the Princess in Black, a superhero figure who protects the kingdom!
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