Why do many super heroes feel the need to hide behind masks?

Written by: Alex Falase-Koya @AlexFKoya

Illustrations by: Paula Bowles @Paula_Bowles

Published by: Oxford University Press @OxUniPress

Published: July 2023

Price: £6.99

First line: Marvin ducked and weaved along the overgrown track, dodging the giant palm leaves.

Genre: Mystery, Science Fiction, Adventure, Super Hero

Age: 6-8

Thanks to Just Imagine and Oxford University Press for the review copy. There is a full review on the Just Imagine website

What’s it all about? Super hero, Marv, wants to win the school garden design competition, but super villian, Violet Vine, has other ideas: turning all the school’s plants into big, hungry, human-eating monstrosities!

Why should I read it? The story content is one that will easily connect with this age group (hopefully, only the start of the story only!), as most children will have taken part in some type of school competition before. Marvin, the main character, exudes passion, drive, determination, commitment and dedication; wonderful characteristics for children to observe and all values that we wish them to grow up with. 

I really enjoyed how Marvin struggles with his feelings of jealousy, not just with Eva, but also with Joe (who doesn’t appear to back-up his thoughts and may even be siding with Eva) and how these manifest themselves in not only what he says, but also in his actions too. Or, like when his anger spoils over into him accusing his friend of cheating. Additionally, his relationship with his friends is represented well, with dialogue appropriate for that age. These would make great discussion points in class, as at some point in their lives, the readers will come across similar feelings and this could show them the right way to deal with those. 

Therefore, this book could be used either as a guided reading text, or it could easily be used as a whole class novel to fit in with topics such as: design, plants or superheroes. Having taken a year group to Kew Gardens before, there are many directions a teacher could go with this as a class novel for a unit. If space allows it, a gardening project similar to the book or on a smaller scale would really help bring the book to life.