The Superheroes Employment Agency

Gr 3–5—Singer offers up a collection centered around an agency that offers superhero services to anyone in need. Reading like a series of commercial endorsements, the poems introduce the different superheroes and showcase their talents and powers. The characters are diverse and slightly eccentric; these are not the usual suspects, although some pay direct homage to already-existing characters, such as with "Muffy the Vampire Sprayer" and "Blunder Woman." The "Verminator" fights bugs, and "Metamorph," a shape-shifter, takes on the form of bad children and acts nice. Jones's illustrations are humorous and eye-catchingly colorful, with some of the pages appearing like comic-book panels. The CEO of the superhero agency, who supplies the introduction and conclusion to the book, is a woman, a touch that allows for a dose of well-needed female empowerment in the superhero world. Although there is definite kid appeal with the superhero themes and there are some clever moments, the poems themselves, with their somewhat clunky rhyme and inconsistent point of view, are hard to read, and the collection as a whole lacks cohesiveness.—Rita Meade, Brooklyn Public Library, NY