When he sees the newspaper headline that reads, CITY PARKS & PLAYGROUNDS VANISH OVERNIGHT,' he springs into action. Maleek loves comic books, and he also invents amazing gadgets. K-Gr 3-A lackluster tale of a boy with a secret identity. Unique black-and-white collage photography captures just the right atmosphere for a super adventure. Tauss has created a feather-light tale that celebrates a child''s creativity and offers a positive spin on the comic-book format. Back home he uses these specimens to create a formula for Gigundo Juice, which he spreads around the city to recreate the parks and save the day. With his robot assistant, Marvyn, and a Time-O-Matic-Whenever-Wherever machine, he goes back in time to collect plants.

Since every superhero is motivated by the desire to do good deeds, when all the city parks disappear, it''s Maleek to the rescue. He has a secret identity complete with hidden costume there''s also a laboratory filled with his invented gadgets. Reading about their adventures fuels his active imagination and leads him to create his own. Jennifer Mattson Kirkus 8/15 Maleek is deeply enamored of superhero comic books. Pull out Brian Pinkney''s The Adventures of Sparrowboy (1997) or George O''Connor''s Ka-Pow! (2003) and Ker-Splash! (2005) for more kids in capes.

But even children who don''t grasp the nostalgic references will enjoy the mix of realism and unabashed artifice in the photos, as well as the kid-driven heroics. Tauss, whose work can also be found in Barbara Rogansky''s Leaf by Leaf: Autumn Poems (2001), shoots in high-contrast black-and-white, with rich, silvery results reminiscent of the retro sf film Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow. The story is unexceptional, but the photographs used to illustrate it are a powerful draw. He keeps HIS superhero costume in a top secret hiding place,' and he springs into action when the parks and playgrounds in his metropolis mysteriously disappear.

But Maleek isn''t just a consumer of secondhand adventure. The scene encapsulates the sense of wonder that superhero tales hold for children. In this picture book''s opening photo, an African American boy, Maleek, gazes upon a comic book, face bathed in light from its glowing pages.

Superhero by Marc Tauss