Children's Picture Book Review

Picture courtesy of Amazon.com

Title: Charlie's Superhero Underpants
Author: Paul Bright
Illustrator: Lee Wildish
Genre: Children's Fiction Picture Book
Publisher: Good Books
Copyright Date: 2009
Pages: 32
Awards: None

Summary: Charlie has lost his favorite scarlet superhero underpants because of the wild wind. The ones that fit just right, they have pow across the front and kerzap and oof on the back. He packs his bag and begins his travels in pursuit of his favorite underpants. He trudges through the Serengeti, Peru, and Mississippi. Along the way he collects his other family members clothing from some interesting animal characters. When finally in Nepal we are shocked to see where his underwear have landed and who has them.

Educational Purpose:  I would use this book for pre-school and Kindergarten students by introducing animals and clothing. I would use this book as a way to show the animals in their home environment. Like how the lion lived in the Serengeti and the alligator lived in the Mississippi. This would lead to a whole exploration of discovering animals and where their homes are. Another way that I would use this book is to discuss the different types of clothing that humans wear. Like socks, pants, hat, and pajamas. I would have students create and draw their own clothing.

Grade Level: I am giving this book a mixed aged review. I believe young children will love this book but so will students in older grades. 
Pre-K (or Below): This book is geared towards pre-school aged children. This book is a great visual of different countries such as Mississippi and the Serengeti.The illustrations are engaging and funny with the clothes and the animals.

Elementary (K-3rd ): These books are meant for readers who are learning how to read. This will include early emergent readers, and transitional readers. The text is simple and not very much and new vocabulary will be introduced. This is a picture book with detailed and exciting illustrations that will keep the reader engaged. Lexile: AD870L.

Ratings:

					Comments
Plot	Excellent plot that is clever and has many surprising twists.	Good plot that has some surprises.	This is an okay plot that is kinda interesting.	Loose plot with many holes, and fails to grab the reader’s attention.	This story takes on you a journey to new countries and discovery of adventure.
Character	Excellent characterization. The characters are complex and provide a strong emotional impact on the reader.	The characters are believable and the reader can relate to them, and feel an emotional tie to the characters.	The characters are lacking but likable. There is some emotional attachment to the characters.	The characters are poorly described, and leave the reader feeling detached from the book.	The character is very relatable especially when he begins to lose hope and is sad. You cant help but cheer for Charlie to succeed.
Illustration	Excellent illustrations. Very detailed, creative, and connected to the book.	Illustrations were good and showed something important about the book.	The illustrations were okay, they were not very creative.	There was no illustrations, or they were not interesting.	The illustrations are so engaging and detailed. The illustrator captured the settings, characters and plot perfectly.
Recommendation	Excellent book that I highly recommend having in your classroom or library. This book will captivate, enchant, fascinate, and basically make you obsess about it.	Good book that I recommend having in your classroom or library. The book was interesting and kept my interest and was overall very engaging.	This book was okay. I believe this would be a book to check out from the library if you're feeling bored.	This book was awful and I cannot recommend it for your classroom or library. This book will leave you wishing you could rewind time so you don’t read it.	I would definitely recommend this book. It is a keeper in my house and we read it at least once a week. The rhymes and humor are contagious and you will find yourself laughing.