Captain Superlative

by J. S. Puller

Overview

Debut author J.S. Puller delivers an inspirational story full of heart, humor, and breathtaking revelations.

"Have no fear, citizens! Captain Superlative is here to make all troubles disappear!"

Red mask, blue wig, silver swimsuit, rubber gloves, torn tights, high top sneakers and . . . a cape? Who would run through the halls of Deerwood Park Middle School dressed like this? And why?

Janey—quick to stay in the shadows—can't resist the urge to uncover the truth behind the mask. The answer pulls invisible Janey into the spotlight and leads her to an unexpected friendship with a superhero like no other. Fearless even in the face of school bully extraordinaire, Dagmar Hagen, no good deed is too small for the incomparable Captain Superlative and her new sidekick, Janey.

But superheroes hold secrets and Captain Superlative is no exception. When Janey unearths what's truly at stake, she's forced to face her own dark secrets and discover what it truly means to be a hero . . . and a friend.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781368005630
Publisher:	Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Publication date:	02/12/2019
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	256
Product dimensions:	5.10(w) x 7.50(h) x 0.30(d)
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

J. S. Puller is a playwright and author of Captain Superlative and The Lost Things Club. She is an award-winning member of the American Alliance for Theatre and Education and has done research on the social-emotional benefits of arts education with the University of Chicago Consortium on School Research. J.S. lives in Chicago. She invites you to visit her at pullerwrites.wordpress.com, on Facebook @puller.writes, and on Twitter @pullerwrites.

Editorial Reviews

"Captain Superlative is an emotionally rich and heart-wrenching gut punch of a book that challenges its readers to be better people and citizens."—Shelf Awareness

From the Publisher

2018-04-16
Seventh-grader Jane Silverman becomes a sidekick to the girl in her middle school who has taken on a fearless superhero persona. Narrator Janey, who's white, and her classmates are witness to the constant bullying that alpha girl Dagmar, also white, inflicts on their classmate Paige, who is African-American ("For as long as I can remember," Paige tells Janey, "Dagmar's been awful to me"). Dagmar's star status at the school keeps her from being recognized as the bully she is until Capt. Superlative appears in the hallways, performing generous acts of kindness, courage, and recognition. Janey, who has been flying under the radar since her mother's death from cancer a few years earlier, discovers through some sleuthing that the girl in the homemade superhero costume is a classmate, Chinese-born Caitlyn Li. The two girls team up to offer study guides and mints, door opening and other small courtesies, and general encouragement to the student body. Revelations abound, including the reasons behind Caitlyn's act, which hit Janey hard, and behind Dagmar's bullying of Paige. Ultimately Caitlyn, Janey, and Paige heroically disrupt Dagmar's reign of terror and create a legacy for Capt. Superlative. This fairly believable middle school drama is punctuated with poignancy and humor—but the casting of the one African-American character as victim and the masking of the book's other significant character of color sound discordant notes. Ambitious but of mixed success. (Fiction. 9-12)

Kirkus Reviews