Captain Superlative

May 1, 2018

Gr 4-7-Seventh-grader Janey likes being invisible: if you can't be seen, you can't be a target. Classmate Paige is in queen bee Dagmar's bullying crosshairs-at least, until the day Captain Superlative appears to show everyone a better way: "Be nice! Help others! Stand up!" Janey has to wonder if the girl with the mask and the blue hair is crazy. With a little sleuthing, Janey figures out the Captain's secret identity and is reluctantly convinced to accept the role of sidekick. Little does she know that she herself will end up being Captain Superlative's biggest accomplishment. Puller's debut novel opens with a prologue taking place at a memorial service, so it's no spoiler to reveal that the Captain's days are numbered, and her determination to go out leaving a legacy of small acts of kindness is more than just a way to avoid being forgotten. Although Janey's voice frequently wobbles, sounding more like an adult than a middle-schooler, and there is no way a student would be allowed to wear a cape and mask to a real-life middle school, the story is at its best when the Captain is standing up against meanness and pointing out that "different is good." VERDICT Buy where realistic fiction for tweens is in demand, especially where students are looking for Wonder readalikes with a similar "Choose Kind" message.-Elizabeth Friend, Wester Middle School, TX

Copyright 2018 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 1, 2018
Seventh-grader Jane Silverman becomes a sidekick to the girl in her middle school who has taken on a fearless superhero persona. Narrator Janey, who's white, and her classmates are witness to the constant bullying that alpha girl Dagmar, also white, inflicts on their classmate Paige, who is African-American ("For as long as I can remember," Paige tells Janey, "Dagmar's been awful to me"). Dagmar's star status at the school keeps her from being recognized as the bully she is until Capt. Superlative appears in the hallways, performing generous acts of kindness, courage, and recognition. Janey, who has been flying under the radar since her mother's death from cancer a few years earlier, discovers through some sleuthing that the girl in the homemade superhero costume is a classmate, Chinese-born Caitlyn Li. The two girls team up to offer study guides and mints, door opening and other small courtesies, and general encouragement to the student body. Revelations abound, including the reasons behind Caitlyn's act, which hit Janey hard, and behind Dagmar's bullying of Paige. Ultimately Caitlyn, Janey, and Paige heroically disrupt Dagmar's reign of terror and create a legacy for Capt. Superlative. This fairly believable middle school drama is punctuated with poignancy and humor--but the casting of the one African-American character as victim and the masking of the book's other significant character of color sound discordant notes. Ambitious but of mixed success. (Fiction. 9-12)

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