Wedgieman to the Rescue

by Charise Mericle Harper, Bob Shea (Illustrator)

Overview

Following his debut in Wedgieman: A Hero Is Born, our superhero continues on his mission to get children to eat their vegetables. Until he meets Bad Dude and his secret inventions, that is. 

Bad Dude has a plan; it's a bad plan. He wants to use his Make-Things-Disappear Machine to zap the playground and make it dematerialize—and then force all the children to work in the Bad Dude Factory! But have no fear, Wedgieman comes to the rescue and saves the day—and develops a new wedgie in the process that's called The Celery!

Beginning readers (and their caregivers) will howl with delight over the ka-pow! humor and blam! illustrations.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780307974235
Publisher:	Random House Children's Books
Publication date:	02/12/2013
Series:	Step into Reading Book Series: A Step 3 Book , #2
Sold by:	Random House
Format:	eBook
Pages:	48
Lexile:	510L (what's this?)
File size:	8 MB
Age Range:	5 - 8 Years

About the Author

CHARISE MERICLE HARPER has written and illustrated numerous children's books, including Just Grace; Wedgieman: A Hero Is Born; The Power of Cute; Gigi in the Big City; Milo's Special Words; Good Night, Leo; Pink Me Up; and When Randolph Turned Rotten. She lives in Mamaroneck, New York, with her husband and their two children. Charise loves creating art and stories, petting her cat, drinking coffee, and eating pie.

BOB SHEA is the author-illustrator of the award-winning and bestselling Dinosaur vs. Bedtime, as well as Oh, Daddy!, New Socks, and I'm a Shark, and the illustrator of Wedgieman: A Hero Is Born. He also wrote Big Plans, illustrated by Lane Smith. Bob lives in Connecticut with his family.

Editorial Reviews

Someone needs to save new readers from this book. Sadly, the second adventure of the vegetable-loving, potty-mouth-named superhero is…not so super. As was the case with its predecessor, Wedgieman: A Hero Is Born (2012), the story starts in at one end by preaching the virtues of vegetables, and then goes out the other end with some pretty lame scatological humor. Of course, readers will only reach the point when the hero gives himself an obligatory wedgie at book's end if they make it through the poorly conceived plot twists. These include Wedgieman savoring a snack of celery and the introduction of the story's villain, who calls himself Bad Dude. This sets up the predictable punch line that finds the children who show up in the story as Bad Dude's victims misreading his name: "D-u-d-e spells doodie." Even though veggies, not academics, are central to the book's didactic impulse, the hero just breezes by this misreading with the matter-of-fact line, "They can't spell," which seems a sad irony in a book intended for new readers. Not even Shea's humorous, cartoonish digital art can save the day, despite some valiant efforts. Don't bother wedging this one on your bookshelf. (Early reader. 5-8)

Kirkus Reviews