Book Review: Marvel Avengers Shake to Assemble
AgeRange: 3-10 years
Author: Calliope Glass
Illustrators: Ron Lim and Richard Isanove
Marvel Press
New York
ISBN: 978-1-4231-7826-2
Shake to Assemble is a fun book, easy for kids to engage with, and one they will likely pick up again and again until it is memorized.
This book starts out with high energy that is carried all the way through. The plot of the book is simple– the Avengers need to assemble. One by one, six Avengers gather until they have to work together to get the Incredible Hulk to join them. The illustrations are bright and straight forward, and almost entirely consist of the characters and their props. The illustrations also work in some humor with side conversations that parents will likely enjoy (but are also entirely kid appropriate).
What I really love about this book is the way it involves the reader by giving directions on how the reader can help find the next Avenger. For example, “Now try shaking the book from left to right three times. Maybe we can find another Avenger.” This has at least a two-fold benefit. One, it helps little readers practice following directions. Two, it keeps squirmy readers engaged. With a command (clap, shake, tap, and so on) on nearly every page, it would be hard for even the most active little one to lose interest in this book. The book even works in some counting throughout by telling how many claps, shakes, taps are needed and also at the end as the team ensures they have gathered everyone.
This is a superhero book, so Hawkeye does have a bow and arrow. Additionally, in order to get the Hulk to join them, the team has to do a little coaxing which basically involves pestering Bruce Banner until the Hulk comes out. I personally felt they should leave poor Bruce Banner alone. One might go so far as to criticize this as encouraging that type of behavior, but given it is in the context of comic book characters and specifically a trait of the Hulk, it is not something that would prevent me from sharing this book with my kids.
Find it on Barnes and Noble here.
Find it on Amazon here.