Friday, April 24, 2009

Superdog:Heart of a Hero by Caralyn and Mark Buehner







1. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Buehner, Caralyn. 2004. SUPERDOG:HEART OF A HERO. Ill. Mark Buehner. New York, NY: HarperCollins. ISBN 0066236207

2. PLOT SUMMARY
Dexter is tired of being lonely and picked on. He soon decides to act upon his dream of being a hero and develops exercises to increase his strength. At the end, as with any superhero story, Dex saves the day and befriends his nemesis.

3. IMPRESSIONS
My first year of teaching, I had an autistic boy take this book out every single week for the entire year. I encouraged him to try something else, but no go. For that reason, I never read the book until this class. Now it all makes sense;an "outcast" who is different from the rest and is bullied; a dreamer who wants to be something else; someone who eventually becomes "normal" in the bullies eyes. This autistic boy had found himself in this book.

The illustrations in this book are great...from the Dexter we see at the beginning of the book as downcast and lumpy, to the Dexter at the end who is (dare I say it) ripped and popular! ANY kid can see himself in Dexter...or possibly Cleevis the bully. At any rate, it is a Superman spoof that, at some points, has that comic strip feel with the captioned pictures. I must say, when Dexter put out the trash fire, I was glad to see a garden hose and not a raised leg! But I sure had to look twice!

Good read. Great feel.

4. REVIEW EXCERPTS
* Starred review in PUBLISHER'S WEEKLY: "Scenes of Dex flexing his muscles, panting during his sidewalk runs or sporting his green-and-red superdog outfit are laugh-out-loud funny. Elsewhere, shady brownstone stoops and colorful city storefronts and streets add extra flair to this dynamic effort. Ages 4-8."
http://www.powells.com/biblio/1-9780066236209-5

* Starred review in COOPERATIVE CHILDREN'S BOOK CENTER: "Of course, any of Dexter’s appropriately dog-sized deeds would have been possible without a hero suit and a buff physique, but that’s part of this earnest pup’s charm. Humorous illustrations show the cowed pre-hero Dexter morphing into a confident super dog."
http://www.education.wisc.edu/ccbc/books/detailBook.asp?idBooks=1937

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