Steelheart (The Reckoners) by Brandon Sanderson

Superhero movies and books are abundant these days. There are even superheroes with dark sides. But what if there were people who gained superhero powers, but none of them were good? What if the world was filled with super villains but there were no good guys with super powers to stop them?

I was in the middle of reading two other books when I started reading Steelheart, the first book in The Reckoners series by Brandon Sanderson. I abandoned those and finished this book as quickly as I could. The premise is intriguing, the story was fast-paced and fun, and its full of twists and turns that I didn't see coming. I'll probably reread it someday to see if there's foreshadowing that I missed. The good news is it's part of a series, so there's more to read.

I recommend this book for anyone who likes superheroes, adventures, or alternate worlds (I hesitate to call it a dystopia, but the world is certainly a grimmer place with villains controlling everything). This would be a great book for teenage boys.

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Steelheart
By Brandon Sanderson
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Year: 2013
Ages: Middle Grade, Young Adult, Books for Boys

You can buy this book on Amazon (affiliate link) or at your local independent library).

The Princess in Black by Shannon Hale and Dean Hale

Princesses don't run. Princesses don't wear black. Princesses definitely don't fight monsters. Or do they? As the mother of girls who love princesses and superheroes, I loved reading this book with my girls. There has been a little bit of effort in recent years to include female superheroes (though they're still by far the minority), but I appreciated that in this book, you don't have to choose. You can be a princess and a superhero.

This book was written by wife/husband team Shannon Hale and Dean Hale. Shannon Hale is one of my favorite YA authors. And it's illustrated by LeUyen Pham. I rarely recognize an illustrator's work, but I'm beginning to recognize her and have another favorite picture book that she illustrated that I'll highlight soon.

This book is told in short chapters with large type so it would make a good first chapter book. With my early reader, I read some pages and she read some pages. She's reading pretty good, but she gets overwhelmed quickly, so I take the pages with lots of type and give her the ones with more pictures and fewer words. It's a fun, quick read. Give it a try with your girls. Or with your boys--there may be a goat boy who takes inspiration from the Princess in Black that they can cheer for if they shy away from princess stuff.

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The Princess in Black
By Shannon Hale and Dean Hale
Illustrated by LeUyen Pham
Publisher: Candlewick Press
Year: 2014
Info: color illustrations
Ages: Picture Books, Early Readers, First Chapter Books
Themes: princesses, superheroes, monsters
Source: our public library