So what's it like living with Atomic Ace, a dad who battles robots and can fly? It's not as weird as you might think--after all, Ace is always there to fix Saturday lunch and play ball with his son. Mom is just Mom and Dad is just Dad.
The narrator is really proud of his dad. He uses his special powers to defeat the bad guys and keep his son and others safe from whatever dangerous things could be out there. Although he spends a lot of his time fighting crime, Ace still tries to be there for his son as much as possible, but misses out on somethings. When he misses his son's recital fighting the Insect King, Ace ends up with an insect head instead of a human one. After this, his sons classmates start to make fun of Ace. This is when his son realizes that he loves his dad no matter what he does, fighting crime or being a regular dad.
This story is a unique way to illustrate father-son bonds in that it takes the form of a graphic novel. This graphic novel was very easy to follow, even for those new to this category. It would be helpful in introducing students to a new type of book and allowing them to create their own graphics.
This is a very cute book. It also has rhythmic lines all throughout the story so it makes it a very fun read aloud. I enjoyed the constant reminder that this child was just looking at his superhero father as just his dad. All of the attention that his dad was getting and the little boy stayed humble and did not sink to the bullies level. This provides a good lesson to the children reading this book, and it allows them to relate their parents to super heroes as well.
The illustrations remind me of an old timie comic book-in fact the dedication portraits look like Clark Kent's earth parents! To the world his dad is a super hero, but to his son he is just his dad (who cooks hot dogs with his nuclear breath!). Could lead to writing prompts about who your hero is and what is their "super power?".
Kids love superheroes, but comics and comicbook heroes are getting darker these days. For your comic lovers, this might be the answer. Classic-comic like story with the frame of being a story about a boy and his father. Also, the story rhymes, which I always love in children's books.
This is a graphic novel in a picture book. I would recommend this for older students grade 3 and up even though it is a picture. I believe that children would need to understand what makes a graphic novel to understand the theme of family that is mentioned over and over in this text.