Story Time: DC Superheroes!

Story Time with LE

Story Time with LENikki and I hope you’ll join us today for Story Time with Literary Escapism, a bi-weekly feature where we showcase various children books that fall directly in the fantasy & science fiction genres, as well as books we’re enjoying with our young children. We’re talking boardbooks, picture books, those books labeled as beginner or newly independent readers, and middle grade – anything of interest to those readers who are not quite ready for the young adult genre. So we hope you’ll join us on the carpet as we share the stories that have captured our little ones imaginations.

How can I not start out with superheroes, right? Ask any young boy and he has not only heard of many superheroes, but he has his own favorite as well. We introduced the Monkey to them early, and probably a little wrong, and he’s been attached to them going on 4 years now. I swear it feels like I’ve read a ton of different superhero books and seen every DC Comic/Marvel animation there is.

If you’re asking how we could possibly introduce superheroes wrong to him, then I would like to direct you to on ItsJustSomeRandomGuy YouTube. Jesse found him when the Monkey was almost two years old and they both fell in love. So much so that someone requested his second birthday be themed with Spiderman and Batman and proceeded to ask when they were going to be in a movie together. *grin* Yeah…I made Jesse explain why they would never appear together – unless they have and there is a movie out there, please let me know!

Anyway, so the Monkey loves him some superheroes, specifically the Justice League.  Yup, I’m aware that’s about seven different ones (initially), and it depends on the time of day which is Monkey’s favorite. It made picking out his special five year birthday gift a little difficult. Since he loves the DC crowd so much, Jesse and I got him his own subscription to the Detective, Action and Justice League comics. No, he doesn’t really read them right now and simply looks at the pictures,  but our fabulous comic book guy introduced him to Franco and Art Baltazar’s Superman Family Adventures (the first volume will release in July) and Tiny Titans (Vol 1 is Welcome to the Treehouse).  These are fabulous if you’re looking to introduce your child to comics early.  They are drawn in childlike fashion, feature their favorite heroes as children, and puts them through trials that most children may encounter.

Superman Family Adventures.Vol1Superman Family Adventures (the first volume will be releasing July 2013): Superman’s closest allies take the stage like you have never seen before, from the Eisner Award-winning team of Art Baltazar and Franco (TINY TITANS)! Don’t miss the action-packed, history-making, super adventure awesomeness!! Classic Superman elements reinterpreted for all ages with the humor that only the creative team of TINY TITANS can bring!

Tiny Titans.Vol1Tiny Titans (Vol 1 is Welcome to the Treehouse): You’ll see what life is like for the very young heroes of Sidekick Elementary and learn what could go wrong when the kids of Sidekick Elementary spend an afternoon in the Batcave in this new graphic novel.

These all ages tales from the DC Universe, beautifully written and illustrated by Art Baltazar and Franco, will entertain new readers and seasoned fans of comics.

If it seems odd that to introduce Monkey to comics so early, and my wallet has said it’s early, I have to say that comics have one major attractive element that books don’t – quick action and fabulous pictures all within a short amount of time. They are perfect for his short attention span and he gets to look forward to seeing our comic book guy monthly.  A couple other great comic series for kids are: Green Lantern: The Animated Series, Young Justice Vol. 1 and Ben 10 Ultimate Alien: Science Friction.

Once Monkey started looking for books at the library on his own, the first thing he asked for was superheroes.  Big surprise right? I had already been filling his own library with superhero books and was afraid that he would end up with some that were similar to what we’ve already read. Thankfully, the wonderful librarians thus introduced him to the Super Pets!

Yes they’re chapter books, but Monkey loves them! He checks out as many as he can whenever we go to the library. In fact, his latest bundle include Super Hero Splash Down, Heroes of the High Seas, Barnyard Brainwash and Pooches of Power!.

So that’s it for me this month. I won’t deluge you with too many superheroes, especially since the Monkey has a preference for DC, but I should also mention (real quickly), he does love him some Marvel Super Hero Squad and there are just as many books featuring Thor, Spiderman, Ironman, Hulk and all the rest. So if you’re own little monster loves the superheroes and you’re getting tired of the same old same old – there are other options out there.

Skylanders-Machine of DoomTo give you a preview of what I’ll be showing off next month, I just checked out The Witch of Clatteringshaws by Joan Aiken and Goblin Secrets by William Alexander. Plus this was downloaded to the kindle this weekend, with the hope that he would be all over trying it: The Machine of Doom by Cavan Scott.

When word reaches the Skylanders of a giant, ancient and deadly weapon, Spyro, Gill Grunt, Boomer and Eruptor set out to find it before the evil Kaos can get there first. Can Master Eon’s group of heroes use their Elemental powers to save Skylands from The Machine of Doom? Find out in this hilarious and exciting novel starring the characters from the smash hitvideo game “Skylanders: Spyro’s Adventure”.

About Jackie 3282 Articles
I am a 30-something SAHM with two adorable boys and a supportive husband who is very tolerant of my reading addiction. I love to read and easily go through about a dozen books a month – well I did before I had kids. Now, not so much. After my first son was born, I began to take my hobby of reviewing a little more serious and started Literary Escapism to help with my sanity. I love to discuss the fabulous novels I’ve read and meeting all the wonderful people in the book blogging community has been amazing.