Marvel Fearless and Fantastic! Female Super Heroes Save the World by Sam Maggs, Emma Grange and Ruth Amos

DK, 2018. ISBN 9780241357491
(Age: 8+) Themes: Superheroes; Women. Characters from the Marvel world encourage people to be determined, daring, compassionate and curious. Under each of these headings are described superheroes who embody these qualities. So under the heading 'Determined' the reader will be inspired by Captain Marvel, Spider-Woman and Jessica Jones among others. Superheroes described as being daring are Hawkeye, Misty Knight, Mary Jane Watson and many more. The endearing Squirrel Girl leads the list of compassionate superheroes, mingling with Medusa, Singularity and Pepper Potts. Among the curious are She-Hulk, Kitty Pryde and Spider-Girl.
Each superhero is given a full page of text describing how she developed her superpowers and who she has worked with and on the opposite page is a full page coloured illustration, which gives a glimpse into her character as well as the costume that she might don when on rescue missions.
There is a diverse range of women from many backgrounds including Black Widow, a former Russian assassin, Ms Marvel a 16 year old Pakistan-American Muslim girl, Korean American Silk, and Nico Minoru, of Japanese-American parents. Some of the superheroes like Dr Toni Ho and Ironheart, rely on their intelligence to get things done and would make great role models for young readers.
This is a fun book to dip into and readers are sure to find a number of superheroes whose stories they would like to pursue.
Pat Pledger