Manny is what a real super hero should be. He has his capes for each adventure: purple, red, green and so forth. But he has a very special cape for school: his invisible one. Which I think is a nice touch. Usually you see the child wearing a cape to school and everyone accepts it as “okay” and a “normal” thing to do. And rarely, if at all, they are teased for it. I am sorry, they will be teased. Not everyone will accept it and yes, it is very distracting.
The moral of Super Manny Stands Up! is to stand up to bullies. It only took Manny to help a fellow classmate and the other students help, too. The realism of there are no teachers/adults around in the cafeteria is sad, but unfortunately a reality (true story: my nephew saw a kid bullying a special needs child and my nephew confronted this child. Because the teacher did not see the original bullying, it was my nephew who got into trouble). However, it is good that the children help a friend out.
Kelly DiPucchio’s text is acceptable to the kindergartner to about second grader. It can be read to a younger crowd without being “too much” for them. And Stephanie Graegin has created some sweet illustrations. They are non-confrontational to balance the seriousness of the story. There are clever details in them to help move the story along, but to the adult there are little surprises that have nothing to really do with the story but are fun extras.
Super Manny Stands Up! is at least one of two books about Manny. Super Manny Cleans Up! just came out.
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