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So, here it is! My first children's book review:
THE LIL’ DEFENDERS
by Jaimie Hope
illustrated by Jose Julian Ramirez Rivas
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Brother and sister Hunter and Holly discover they have superhero powers while playing baseball in the park with two friends. The four children are surprised by the discovery and rush from the park to Hunter and Holly’s Aunt Jaimie.
Aunt Jaimie asks: “Didn’t your parents ever tell you we’re superhero families?” The children are at first wary but ultimately excited to learn this. Aunt J explains that the children have “suddenly come into [their] powers” because “someone or something must need [their] help.”
She leads the children into her bedroom and flips a switch, revealing a secret intelligence lab and giant computer screen, which they use to pinpoint a group of “thugs” in a nearby park.
She tells the children they’ll need to test their friends, Burke and Ceci, to uncover their superpowers. Burke explains that their parents are “regular,” so he and Ceci don’t have any superpowers. Aunt J corrects him, explaining that both of the families are superhero families and even teamed up “years ago when the last batch of bad guys threatened the world.”
Burke turns himself into a snake. Ceci demonstrates that she possesses telekinetic powers. Aunt J then helps the four children hone their abilities with training exercises, as she devises a plan for the newly formed superhero team to capture the “thugs” in the park.
At the end of the day-long training, Aunt J informs them that their team name is the Lil’ Defenders; she also gives each of the children a costume and a secret name. She then instructs the children to keep their superhero identities a secret, and they agree.
The next day Aunt J sends the foursome into a park to confront “three thugs [who] were not only older and bigger, they were also a lot stronger.”
The kids approach these men – one of whom has a red Mohawk – and demand they stop throwing trash around the park. At first The Lil’ Defenders are ignored. Then Burke changes into a snake and chases the thugs, who bump into one another as they try to get away. Holly uses her super speed and runs around them in a circle, lassoing them in. Hunter (or the Green Gladiator as he’s now called on secret superhero missions) tears a nearby well from the earth and carries it over to the rest of The Lil’ Defenders. He asks Ceci (The Brain) to use her telekinesis to add bath soap as he pours the water from the well over the three men – effectively cleaning them with soap and water.
Later that evening, the children’s parents and Aunt J watch the evening news together. Both sets of parents are shocked to see their children had made the evening news for helping “the police catch a band of litterbugs.”
They are “speechless,” but only because they don’t know how the children came to know about their secret identities or superpowers. Aunt J doesn’t take this opportunity to explain their children’s discovery in the park, subsequent training and mission. She is quiet and knowingly smiles at the reader, as if we’re in on this secret together.
The Lil’ Defenders is a fun story based on two real children and their special relationship with an aunt. The idea of regular children becoming superheroes on any given day encourages limitless thinking, and I like that.
But I would be remiss if I didn’t explain that the motif of secrecy throughout the book troubles me a little bit. I was confused by Aunt J’s decision not to share that she and the children had discovered their superhero identities with the children’s parents. She’d explained to the children that they are superhero families; so wouldn’t the parents also be superheroes themselves?
What I really found troubling is not Aunt J keeping the kids’ superhero identities a secret from their parents, it’s Aunt J asking the children to keep this secret. I think the author’s intention was to reinforce the idea of the superhero having a secret identity; she didn’t mean to suggest anything worrisome. Even so, I struggle to imagine how I would read this book to my daughter without feeling the need to talk to her about secrecy. Perhaps I’d even use this book as a springboard into a tough conversation, such as “Has anyone asked you to keep a secret?” But I would not be comfortable reading this to my daughter without qualifying that she doesn’t need to obey any adult who asks her to keep a secret.
(Picture book. 6-8)
At no point in The Lil' Defenders did I say not to tell the children specifically not to tell their parents. The line concerning secrecy is:
ReplyDelete“Your superhero names are a secret, you must not tell anyone. So no bragging at school. Do you promise not to tell?”
This refers specifically to showboating at school, as is common among children.
As for the parents, that will be addressed in book two.
It is my hope that parents do use my books to start dialogues with their children on a myriad of subjects, though I would hope none would use my work to create dark scenarios that aren't in the work.