Review by Kat Berg -- Toni the Superhero by R.D. Base

[Dolor]

An excellent book for young ESL students will surely be helpful to the early readers. I am not the target audience, but I'm sure my niece will love this book. Thanks for the succinct review.

[Davinasmith18]

I really enjoyed your review and your comments regarding the importance of having characters that young black children can relate to. I agree that it is important for all minority children to see characters that look like them. An article published in 2017 on the consciouskid website claimed that "there are more children’s books published about animals than Black people. Black people have historically been, and continue to be, underrepresented, misrepresented, or invisible in children’s literature" They also suggest that black male characters are less common,and it is rare for a black male character to be depicted in a positive and empowered way, so I love the idea that Toni has a solid, positive identity and I too like that Toni is not defined by what he is wearing but rather he has a deeper and more fundamental knowledge that he is special because of who he is.

[LV2R]

I agree with you about the two-page illustrations would be better viewed in a hardback-covered book. I also liked that Toni was not a blue-eyed, blond-haired boy to show some cultural diversity.

[MsTri]

I would love to have a hard copy of this book, as I believe the side-by-side impact of some of the pictures would be more easily appreciated this way. This is, in large part, because of the occasional two-page pictures.

Remembering my childhood, the books that I read were dominated by blond-haired, blue-eyed, rosy-cheeked cherubs that looked nothing like me. I longed to be cute like they were instead of my boring, brown-haired, brown-eyed self. How I would have loved more children who looked like me. Representation is so vital in what children read. And this book offers up a welcome change from the picture books of my youth. Toni is dark-skinned, brown-eyed, rosy-cheeked, and wonderfully happy. And he is the hero, just because he is Toni! What child doesn't want to be special in some way? The fact that Toni is a superhero, whether or not he is in costume, shows that his identity doesn't change based on what he is wearing. I really liked that about this book.

I totally agree with all of this, and I love the point you made about this also being good for ESL learners; thanks so much for the delightful review!

[Oulababe]

I love that Toni breaks the white superhero stereo type

[Dael Reader]

Wouldn't you love to meet Toni in person? Nice review.

[Kat Berg]

Thanks, everyone for all the kind comments! I appreciate you taking time to stop by!

[holsam_87]

I agree with you that this book would be beneficial for ESL students, what with the repetition and clear illustrations. I think that this book would fit in well with the Title 1 program in my school district because they use similarly structured books for students that are struggling with reading.