Superman's home - from the Smithsonian's website

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/Cleveland-the-True-Birthplace-of-Superman.html

Update on Superman in Cleveland

http://www.boingboing.net/2010/08/31/supermans-cleveland.html

I am going to have to plan a trip to see this in Cleveland.

Adventures of Max and Pinky: Superheroes

Adventures of Max and Pinky: Superheroes
by
Maxwell Eaton, III
children's fiction
ages 3-6
or adults can read it as a funny comic strip

Today Max the boy is pretending he is a superhero. His sidekick stuffed pig, Pinky, wants to be one, too, but Max wants Pinky to be a sidekick. Pinky doesn't appreciate being demoted to sidekick, but the sidekick comes through in the end.
If you have not read any Max and Pinky, give these funny guys a try. I wonder if they will base a children's television series on this? They certainly could.

Ladybug Girl

Ladybug Girl
by
David Soman and Jacky Davis
children's fiction, ages 3-5.

There's a new superheroine in town - Ladybug Girl. Armed with her costume, sidekick beagle, and her big imagination Lulu saves the day - or at least she pretends to save the day. I think we all have known a little girl like this who leaps and imagines - or maybe one of us was that girl.
Be inspired. Be amazed. Go out and save the world!

Adventures of Captain Underpants

Adventures of Captain Underpants: An Epic Novel
by
Dav Pilkey
children's fiction
ages 5-10

Dav Pilkey is an Ohio author born in Cleveland and raised in Lorain. He went to Kent State University. This book is set at Jerome Horwitz Elementary School, Piqua, Ohio, 45356, as we find out on page 46 when George and Harold, the main characters, receive a package in the mail. If you search for Jerome Horwitz, you will find that he is best known as Curly of Larry, Curly, and Moe fame.

I had read "Halloweiner" and a few "Dumb Bunnies" books before, but for some reason I had not read Captain Underpants until this week. Years ago I had tried out the website that tells readers what their secret identity names would be in Captain Underpants' world, but didn't read the book.
http://www.scholastic.com/captainunderpants/namechanger.htm
By the way, my villain nom de guerre is Snotty Chucklenose, but years ago it was Snotty Lizardbrain.
This week I read this book with a 5 and 6 year old. The 5 year old laughed out loud over and over again and jumped up and down. Pilkey uses well established pranks, information that every American kid knows about superheroes, and his own experiences in grade school to established the Captain Underpants world of fun.
George and Harold are every teacher's nightmare. They pull pranks. They misbehave. They constantly interrupt in class. The principal thinks he has figured out a way to end all these shenanigans, but George and Harold have the last word. Everything in this book series is over the top - bigger, higher, faster, more absurd.
Captain Underpants has become a well established presence in school and public libraries - be that for good or evil purposes. Some teachers love it because it gets reluctant readers to read. Other teachers loath it because it shows students behaving badly and gives them ideas. Librarians as well are divided on loving or hating these books for their crass presentation. Either way, these beginner chapter books in the Captain Underpants series are very funny (in a poopy- farty, third grade, Bart Simpson kind of way).

Captain Underpants trivia
http://www.pilkey.com/bookview.php?id=3