Books like Charlie's Superhero Underpants
By Paul Bright
In Charlie's Superhero Underpants, a gust of wind blows the laundry away and Charlie chases his favorite briefs from the Serengeti to Nepal like it's the biggest mission of his life. Kids who turn every lost sock into a five-alarm emergency get it completely. Here are more stories for that kind of everyday hero.
Same underdog-turned-hero rhyme and bounce, but The Three Ninja Pigs by Corey Rosen Schwartz adds real training montages before the big showdown.
A restless farm duck decides he's done taking orders and campaigns his way from the barnyard all the way to the presidency, one election at a time.
A boy named Nathan decides to keep his first lost tooth instead of trading it away, setting off an all-out battle of wits with a Tooth Fairy determined not to lose.
A dump truck hauling a great big load gets stuck fast in the mud, and one truck after another rolls in, each bigger than the last, to try to pull it free.
Superworm by Julia Donaldson keeps the bouncy rescue-mission energy going, just with a squiggly hero instead of a boy in a cape.
A boy named Ned races a thousand miles to a surprise party, and every stroke of good luck — a borrowed airplane, a handy parachute — flips into disaster and back again.
Charlie earns his cape through sheer nerve. Ten Rules of Being a Superhero by Deb Pilutti hands your kid the actual instructions for doing it right.
Twelve riders line up for a roller coaster, including one who has never ridden before, and together they climb, plunge, and survive every twist of the track.
On a scorching day, Junie and Jake, Poppa, and the baby set off for the lake in a rattling, wheezing car that doesn't go fast and doesn't go far.
A man and his dog set out on a peaceful camping trip, but a marshmallow-loving bear sends them plunging down a mountain and racing down a river toward a waterfall.
Same cape-and-imagination logic that turns Charlie into a hero turns a kitten into a sword-fighter in Skippyjon Jones by Judy Schachner.
Fearless and a little reckless, Learning to Ski with Mr. Magee by Chris Van Dusen sends its hero down a mountain with the same nerve Charlie brings to Nepal.
