CHILDREN’S book of the week

THERE’S no escaping from the pull of superheroes: every summer Hollywood bombards us with the latest instalments in never-ending franchises and we lap them up.

But there’s far more fun to be had in spoof superhero fiction of the kind that radio stars Greg James and Chris Smith have penned in their first children’s book, Kid Normal. It’s so funny, it’s almost criminal.

The premise feels familiar – Murph, a boy with no powers whatsoever, moves to a new home with his mum and older brother and gets mistakenly accepted to an X-Menstyle school for children with special capabilities (known as Capes).

When it’s discovered that he can’t actually fly (or do anything superhuman), the headteacher, Mr Souperman decides to let him stay on at the school, despite the fact all the children now call him Kid Normal.

No superhero book would be complete without a dastardly villain – and in half-man, half-wasp Nektar, we have one of the best-drawn (both in Erica Salcedo’s illustrations and in James and Smith’s descriptions), who relies on his henchman to come up with more devious plans than just spoiling people’s picnics.

Packed with very amusing asides and a brilliant flashback chapter in the middle which introduces the world-famous spy James James, it’s a fun and fast-paced read that will make James and Smith into children’s heroes.