The Astonishing Secret of Awesome Man (review)

Abstract

Reviewed by: The Astonishing Secret of Awesome Man Elizabeth Bush Chabon, Michael . The Astonishing Secret of Awesome Man; illus. by Jake Parker. HarperCollins, 2011. [40p]. ISBN 978-0-06-191462-1 $17.99 Reviewed from galleys R 4-7 yrs. With a "cape as red as a rocket, a mask as black as midnight, and a stylin' A" on his chest, Awesome Man's got the whole superhero thing goin'. And he's not shy about bragging on his own accomplishments—flying into space and through time barriers, shooting positronic rays from his eyeballs, smashing things that need smashing, and bear-hugging supervillains into submission. The audience will catch on pretty quickly to the fact that Awesome Man is the alter ego of an ordinary kid with superhero aspirations, a big imagination, and a tendency to act out his bad-guy-smashing dreams and end up in a time out in his bedroom. "All calmed down and positronic again," he's back in the Earth-saving business, and back in the good graces of his Mom, who appreciates his power grip of a hug and "says that it feels awesome." There's certainly strong kinship here with Max and his wild things; a [End Page 139] fresh generation of picture-book fans may feel that capes and spandex are nattier than a wolf suit, and that tackling Professor Von Evil and his Antimatter Slimebot trumps Sendak's wildest rumpus. But behind the iconic superhero and his charmingly retro, digitally rendered nemeses lies the same cautionary tale of a fantasy carried a bit too far for parental approval and a mandatory cooling-off period to bring the little hyped-up force of nature back down to earth. Copyright © 2011 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois