My Mighty Marvel First Book Black Panther is classic and new

Saying that board books are for babies is like saying pizza is mostly circular. While that is true, you could also talk about the myriad number of ingredients, the thickness of crust, and so on. Sandra Boynton is the queen of board books. However, her style of board books is just like that classic pepperoni pizza, it’s one style. My Mighty Marvel First Book is a series of board books from Abrams Appleseed. This series absolutely nails to the floor the aspects, appearance, enjoyment, and characteristics that make up a great board book for crawlers and up.

Let’s take a look at The Incredible Hulk and Black Panther. “Those pictures look old”, our 11-year-old said while looking over the book. Obviously, these board books are meant for crawlers through early elementary school. However, I knew what he was talking about with his ‘old’ adjective. Black Panther is illustrated by John Buscema and The Incredible Hulk is done by Sal Buscema. John and his younger brother are legends in the Marvel Comic world. Their representation of every superhero at Marvel Comics came to define the appearance and personality of their superheroes for a generation. Sal had a 10-year run illustrating The Incredible Hulk, whereas John did at least one issue of every Marvel Comic book and then some. Suffice it to say, any parent that picks up either of these My Mighty Marvel First Books will have some sort of memory when they look at the art.

If you’re looking for a board book that goes over numbers or letters in an introductory manner these are not the books you’re looking for. These are an entirely different class of board books. The Incredible Hulk and Black Panther are superhero, pop-culture-centered board books that concentrate on fun. The text is simple enough for emerging readers to read some sight words. What makes these books entertaining for crawlers through early elementary readers is the fun and energy that they are contained within the pages.

Some pages are gatefold, like when we see Hulk who is momentarily restrained by massive steel collars. When you open that gatefold you see a larger version of the big green as he’s making shrapnel of them. In Black Panther readers briefly meet M’Baku, who is stronger than T’Challa.  This gatefold opens up, revealing a much larger Black Panther who looks like he’s about the jump on his sometimes foe.

There are examples of leadership, individual characteristics, and the superpowers that make each hero unique. The My Mighty Marvel First Books are probably going to be read to those young children first, perhaps even a couple of times so that they can learn to recognize the words. What adults will see is that after they read them, those children will willingly-and happily spend time reading the books, looking at the pictures, and talking (probably loudly) to their friends about them.

The pages are thick cardboard and the spine is very well made and durable. If you give them to a crawler they’ll quickly have teeth marks in the corners and you won’t mind a bit. Because they’re small and square the books are also a great size for those same ages to carry around to the park or a friend’s house too.

My Mighty Marvel First Book Black Panther has illustrations by John Buscema. My Mighty Marvel First Book The Incredible Hulk is by Sal Buscema. Both board books are on Abrams Appleseed, an imprint of Abrams Books.

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