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Once upon a Royal Superbaby

by Kevin O'Malley
32p. 978-0-80272-164-8.
COPY ISBN
PreS-Gr 1—From the creators of Once Upon a Cool Motorcycle Dude (Walker, 2005) comes this tale about a king and queen and their royal offspring. As with its predecessor, this story is told from divergent points of view: a girl with a penchant for things pretty and sweet and a boy who prefers action and things that are gross. They alternate in their storytelling, all the while interjecting personal comments. What results is a fractured fairy tale about the king who is a "cool motorcycle dude" who slays dragons and the beautiful queen named Tenderheart who loves to shop. The story also includes their baby Sweet Piper, according to the girl, or Strong Viper, according to the boy. When his parents are kidnapped and guarded by a giant cyclops, it is up to their baby to save them and the boy and the girl to agree on a mutual happy ending. The boy and the girl are illustrated by O'Malley. Goto and Heyer's hyperrealistic art functions well to depict the imaginations of the narrators; and children of both genders will relate to the ongoing debate between the boy and girl. This story works as a follow-up to the original, a way to satisfy those who wanted more.—Kim T. Ha, Elkridge Branch Library, MD
Also illustrated by Kevin O'Malley. The boy and girl from Once upon a Cool Motorcycle Dude must cooperate on a creative writing assignment. The kids combine their stories about a macho king and a winsome queen, whose baby saves them from a cyclops (though no one saves this text from pervasive gender stereotyping). The three different illustrators' styles successfully underscore the premise, but none is particularly eye-pleasing.
Reviewed by Kim T. Ha , Sep 01, 2010

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