Thursday, July 23, 2020

Avengers Assembly: Orientation by Preeti Chhibber - OPTIONAL

Avengers Assembly: Orientation by Preeti Chhibber, 176 pages, GRAPHIC NOVEL, Scholastic, 2020, $14.


Language: PG (10 swears); Mature Content G; Violence: G


BUYING ADVISORY: EL, MS – OPTIONAL


AUDIENCE APPEAL:  AVERAGE


Kamala Khan is an average middle school kid who unexpectedly gains super powers and fights crime in New Jersey.  Kamala gets a letter from Captain Marvel inviting her to an extracurricular superhero school to hone her skills.  Together with Miles Morales, aka Spider Man, and Doreen Green, aka Squirrel Girl, they team up to hopefully rise to the top of their class. 


I realize I am not the target audience, but this was a confusing read for me.  I didn’t know who Kamala Khan was previous to the book and it was assumed that readers knew her super powers origin story as well as Squirrel Girl’s and Spider Man’s.  Is there really a Squirrel Girl?  I thought it a little puzzling that Kamala goes by Ms. Marvel when there is already a Captain Marvel.  Told in a collection of blogs, texts, stories, notes and graphic art, it was a fun idea but sometimes difficult to follow.  The narrators kept switching as well as the format, so it took awhile to figure out who was narrating.  The frenetic pacing and visual style will likely appeal to tech savvy middle school students who are into Marvel comics. 


Michelle in the Middle


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