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mnstucki's review against another edition
3.0
Meh. Love that it focuses on the women of the Marvel universe (superpowers or no) but the attention of presumed target audience (children) wouldn’t be held by the text of the book, which is basically just each character sharing platitudes about the lessons they’ve learned through their adventures.
adamrshields's review against another edition
4.0
Summary: Both an introduction to female heroes and an exploration of selfless values.
My four year old son has started discovering Marvel superheroes. A couple days ago we were using some of his left over birthday money to pick out a few new kid’s oriented Marvel books. I picked out this one at the same time, both because I want my son to know that Superheroes are not all male and for my daughter to have female superheroes as role models. It is important that both my son and my daughter see women as potential superheroes.
I do not often post about the books I read with my kids, but I am both encouraged and a little bit angry about this book. The book itself is great. It has a 2 page introduction to 14 different ‘heroes’. Each introduction has enough to sort of introduce who the character is (some really need more introduction) and something about the value that the character holds. The values focus on selflessness, fighting for the weak and powerless, being innovative (for the greater good), working together, supporting others, etc.
All of these values are good and I want to encourage them. But the combination of stretching really far to get 14 heroes to profile (Pepper Potts, Peggy Carter and Mantis are not really super heroes) and the fact that I have never seen a book oriented toward boys that emphasizes similar values does make me a bit angry. There are a few other heroes that I think could have been chosen instead, but not that many. The under-representation of female and minority heroes that are not comic sidekicks does matter. As my daughter was asking who different people were, in almost every case, my first thoughts were about how they were related to a male in the story. She is Black Panther’s sister, she is Iron Man’s girl friend, she is Captain America’s girl friend, etc. Even when there are cases that some of these have story lines of their own, they were developed as side characters not as independent heroes.
And it isn’t that I am upset at a book like this is focused on good values that place community, responsibility, service toward others, empowering those around you, etc. at the fore, I am upset that both this is the first book I get for my daughter and that I haven’t seen an equivalent for my son. I want my daughter to have these values. But I also want them for my son. And I want my son to have fun with superhero stories, but I want that for my daughter as well.
I know that we are in a time where more effort is being put into diversifying book shelves and giving women and minorities of all sorts more representation. But the fact that we are doing this now does matter. And it also matters that even with the fairly low level of representation that is coming up, there is still backlash.
originally posted on my blog at http://bookwi.se/what-makes-a-hero/
My four year old son has started discovering Marvel superheroes. A couple days ago we were using some of his left over birthday money to pick out a few new kid’s oriented Marvel books. I picked out this one at the same time, both because I want my son to know that Superheroes are not all male and for my daughter to have female superheroes as role models. It is important that both my son and my daughter see women as potential superheroes.
I do not often post about the books I read with my kids, but I am both encouraged and a little bit angry about this book. The book itself is great. It has a 2 page introduction to 14 different ‘heroes’. Each introduction has enough to sort of introduce who the character is (some really need more introduction) and something about the value that the character holds. The values focus on selflessness, fighting for the weak and powerless, being innovative (for the greater good), working together, supporting others, etc.
All of these values are good and I want to encourage them. But the combination of stretching really far to get 14 heroes to profile (Pepper Potts, Peggy Carter and Mantis are not really super heroes) and the fact that I have never seen a book oriented toward boys that emphasizes similar values does make me a bit angry. There are a few other heroes that I think could have been chosen instead, but not that many. The under-representation of female and minority heroes that are not comic sidekicks does matter. As my daughter was asking who different people were, in almost every case, my first thoughts were about how they were related to a male in the story. She is Black Panther’s sister, she is Iron Man’s girl friend, she is Captain America’s girl friend, etc. Even when there are cases that some of these have story lines of their own, they were developed as side characters not as independent heroes.
And it isn’t that I am upset at a book like this is focused on good values that place community, responsibility, service toward others, empowering those around you, etc. at the fore, I am upset that both this is the first book I get for my daughter and that I haven’t seen an equivalent for my son. I want my daughter to have these values. But I also want them for my son. And I want my son to have fun with superhero stories, but I want that for my daughter as well.
I know that we are in a time where more effort is being put into diversifying book shelves and giving women and minorities of all sorts more representation. But the fact that we are doing this now does matter. And it also matters that even with the fairly low level of representation that is coming up, there is still backlash.
originally posted on my blog at http://bookwi.se/what-makes-a-hero/
nattycran's review against another edition
5.0
I would get pregnant right now if there was a promise it would be a tough little girl to read this to.
writteninblue's review against another edition
4.0
Not a story, but a look at a number of the women from the MCU and what makes them heroes that shows how many ways there are to be strong and powerful, whether that be through science, emotions, helping others, speaking up for others, etc.
dredre36's review against another edition
hopeful
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
imamandajulius's review against another edition
5.0
This was SO CUTE. Get it for the young Marvel fan in your life!
eowynn01's review against another edition
4.0
"knowing who you are and what you're capable of in your own skin is more powerful than any suit of armor --it's what makes the ordinary extraordinary."
I absolutely LOVE this quote from this book and discovered this idea when I was going through gender identity issues growing up!!
This quote, among many, was the most inspirational since it hit home with something I had to find on my own and SO MANY still are looking for.
Our suite of armor can be MANY things, from gender reassignment to make-up to whatever else we put on/in our body as modifers.
In the end that doesn't mean anything, it is armor to help ourselves feel better, stronger, in control or our true selves, when in truth, it is and always will be INSIDE OURSELVES! - so we don't need to go into debt or temporary pain/discomfort with the modifiers.
This book has a lot of motivation/encouragement in it in some form or fashion and to my surprise and excitement they pulled some female icons that don't have powers but it is their smarts, actions, and mind that make them heros in this book.
I would get this for young boys too just for the idea and encouragement it gives and would like to see one for them by this author as well on help them know they are not being singled out.
I do wish they pulled more out of the universe like from the X-Men or Daredevil and such, but the author was really set on using the Avenger movie world it seemed.
With that, I noticed that the author pulled the most female heros from Black Panther over Captain Marvel (female based film) and none from the Hulk or Spider-Man series leaving them out.
To be fair, Black Panther did have a lot of females in there with major roles remembered over Marvel, a female driven film... but I would of liked to have seen more from the world of Marvel itself not just the Marvel movies from Disney. (This is me being nit-picking)
Since the author was using the movie world this book would be even better if they did each section in the tone the female heros used in each movie! This would make it a solid 5 stars for me -with my nit-picking a side.
I absolutely LOVE this quote from this book and discovered this idea when I was going through gender identity issues growing up!!
This quote, among many, was the most inspirational since it hit home with something I had to find on my own and SO MANY still are looking for.
Our suite of armor can be MANY things, from gender reassignment to make-up to whatever else we put on/in our body as modifers.
In the end that doesn't mean anything, it is armor to help ourselves feel better, stronger, in control or our true selves, when in truth, it is and always will be INSIDE OURSELVES! - so we don't need to go into debt or temporary pain/discomfort with the modifiers.
This book has a lot of motivation/encouragement in it in some form or fashion and to my surprise and excitement they pulled some female icons that don't have powers but it is their smarts, actions, and mind that make them heros in this book.
I would get this for young boys too just for the idea and encouragement it gives and would like to see one for them by this author as well on help them know they are not being singled out.
I do wish they pulled more out of the universe like from the X-Men or Daredevil and such, but the author was really set on using the Avenger movie world it seemed.
With that, I noticed that the author pulled the most female heros from Black Panther over Captain Marvel (female based film) and none from the Hulk or Spider-Man series leaving them out.
To be fair, Black Panther did have a lot of females in there with major roles remembered over Marvel, a female driven film... but I would of liked to have seen more from the world of Marvel itself not just the Marvel movies from Disney. (This is me being nit-picking)
Since the author was using the movie world this book would be even better if they did each section in the tone the female heros used in each movie! This would make it a solid 5 stars for me -with my nit-picking a side.
birdmanseven's review against another edition
2.0
Good concept, but it was overly long and lacked any connectivity. Each page was a dossier and inspirational message from Marvel superheroes. It looks good but it isn't enjoyable to read aloud.
For more on Captain Marvel check out this special episode of the All the Books Show: https://soundcloud.com/allthebooks/episode-186-captain-marvel
For more on Captain Marvel check out this special episode of the All the Books Show: https://soundcloud.com/allthebooks/episode-186-captain-marvel
vivifriend's review against another edition
5.0
Kept my one year old entertained for about half the book. Kept my four year old entertained through the entire thing. Good lessons that made me tear up a little (I’m sappy about friendship what can I say)?
lostinmylibrary's review against another edition
4.0
On the one hand, I love this book. On the other hand, maybe if Marvel had better representation of women, maybe this book wouldn't have to be 90% secondary characters.