Super Goat Girl

The eponymous protagonist of this classroom-set picture book experiences new-kid woes after starting at a school for superheroes. Her classmates have laser-beam eyes, do "a zillion math problems every second," and can stretch in every direction. Super Goat Girl, they point out, doesn't even have a cape. Yet when nemeses arrive to wreak havoc--aimed mostly at teacher Miss Damsel--Super Goat Girl seems to have the crucial talent. She chews through evil aliens' seemingly impenetrable rope and bleats at a frequency that routs a giant gorilla. Initially skeptical or grudging ("Is chewing even a superpower?"), her classmates finally pull together to help Super Goat Girl achieve the day's final rescue. Irreverent text from Baptiste (Mermaid and Pirate) is filled with running jokes and winks to goats' cries ("Is eeevery day like this?"), while digital artwork by Adeloa (Speak Up!) both pays tribute to and gently spoofs classic superhero comics. It's a funny, high-energy take on how embracing one's unique talents is the surest path to becoming the GOAT. Characters are portrayed with various skin tones, some fanciful. Ages 4--8. (July)

In a class of superheroes, the pressure to shine runs high. On Super Goat Girl's first day of school, her teacher Miss Damsel (a brown-skinned woman who is indeed often in distress) introduces her to the class. Though the students include an alien and a robot, they quickly decide that Super Goat Girl doesn't fit in. Brown-skinned Laserbeam Lass can write her name in the air with her eyes, pale-skinned Noodle Boy can stretch his neck and appendages "in every direction," and Robo Kid's mathematical prowess can't be beat. "WHAT CAN YOU DO?" Super Goat Girl's classmates ask. None of this. But when evil aliens lasso Miss Damsel, Goat Girl's teeth chomp through a rope made from impossibilium (the strongest substance on the extraterrestrials' planet), rescuing the teacher when the other students can't. Is chewing a superpower, her classmates wonder? Using other talents such as her intense bleat, Goat Girl repeatedly saves her teacher, who always assures the kid that thenext school activity will be better than the current one, though she never chastises the other students for ostracizing Goat Girl. Only teamwork, in the end, convinces the classmates of Super Goat Girl's value. Divided into graphic novel--esque panels, Adeola's zany cartoon illustrations, with their cheerfully discordant color scheme, give distinct personalities to these unusual characters and offer an empathetic view of the shy protagonist, whose confidence grows as she helps. A worthy tale in which the seemingly ordinary becomes extraordinary.(Picture book. 4-8) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.