The Astonishing Secret of Awesome Man by Michael Chabon

Do you have a little boy who loves superheroes? Or who wants to be a superhero? Michael Chabon, best selling author and Pulitzer prize winning author has just published one of the best picture books yet on superheroes, called The Astonishing Secret of Awesome Man with Moskowitz the Awesome Dog. Not only is the story packed with lots of punches, the illustrations by Jake Parker are just spectacular.

The story begins with awesome man having a secret. He can shoot positronic rays out of his eyeballs, fly straight as an arrow and hug mutant Jell-O. His cape is as red as a rocket and his mask black as midnight. Not to mention he has an awesome letter “A” on his chest. But who is this man? In his own words, he is basically awesome.

The story and illustrations are brilliant, it looks like a 21^st century comic book with brightly colored computer formed illustrations that literally want to pop off the page. This is a fabulous fantasy book for kids and adults, really! Hopefully we will see more from Michael Chabon and Awesome Man.

The Mailbox

The Mailbox by Audrey Shafer

This is not your ordinary teen read. It is one full of beautiful writing, substance and deals with several serious topics; war, the foster system, and the life of veterans. This is a very touching and emotional story that shows us how people can save each other. Ages 12 and up.

12 year-old Gabe is lucky to live with his Uncle Vernon after spending many miserable years in the foster care system. He grows to love his grumpy old Uncle until one day he comes home to realize he has died. His body is left laying on the floor and Gabe doesn’t know what to do or who to call. He goes to bed distraught only to find the next morning that the body is gone, disappeared. Gabe goes about his business keeping the secret that Uncle Vernon has died, trying to take care of himself, clean the house and go to the store for groceries. He knows this is what his Uncle would want him to do. But suddenly he is receiving strange notes in his mailbox from a secret friend. The story continues with exchanges from this friend that Gabe believes to be his “fairy godmother”. Gabe is a wonderful character and this is really a very touching story about life and love. This could be a great read-aloud because it could lead to some great life discussions. A great recommendation for 6^th grade and up.