By Bob McLeod
Twenty-six superheroes, one for every letter, drawn by a man who used to draw the real Spider-Man.
A is the Amazing Astro-Man, always alert for an alien attack. B is Bubble-Man, who blows big bubbles at bullies. L is Laughing Lass, who laughs loudly at lawbreakers. V is The Volcano, who vomits on villains. Every letter gets its own invented hero with its own alliterative job, and every hero gets a full comic-book page: hot colors, action poses, little wisecracks in speech bubbles off to the side. Bob McLeod drew Spider-Man and Superman for a living before he made this one, and you can see it in every panel.
If your child is four and has worn a cape to three separate weddings, this is the book that meets them exactly where they already live. It's an alphabet book that never feels like a lesson, because the letters are hiding inside the thing they are already obsessed with. The heroes are all made up, so there's no film to have seen first and no franchise to keep straight, which means a child who only knows Batman gets twenty-six brand-new heroes that belong to them. And the alliteration does quiet work while your child is busy laughing: every hero's name and job start with the same sound, over and over, which is exactly the noticing that comes before reading.