For young readers in first or second grade the jump to chapter books can be challenging. Our first grader has a couple of friends who are solidly not in the princess camp. They like action, fantasy and other fan girl activities that bodes their STEM future well. Readers like that need to check out the Wonder Woman Sword of the Dragon or Rumble in the Rainforest, two entries in a series of early chapter books from Stone Arch Book, an imprint of Capstone.
Wonder Woman, Sword of the Dragon and Rumble in the Rainforest are original books complete with pages of big, vibrant comic book art. Each chapter is approximately nine pages with big font and vocabulary that the average second grader will be able to navigate without assistance.
Some of the pages are full panels of art. There are some cool images of fighting various baddies, flying her invisible jet, using the lasso of truth and hanging out with monsters. The end of the books also have Invisible Plane Secret Files, two pages that detail the back history of the big bad that she just fought in the book.
For example Gorilla Grodd weighs 600 pounds, is an ingenious scientist and can control people using his mind. Wonder Woman’s greatest asset against Grodd is the Lasso of Truth, as well as using her animal instincts. There’s also a biography of the author, Sarah Hines Stephens and Illustrator, Dan Schoening. I like it when they include these in books because we’re teaching our kids about jobs that people do.
For some of the new vocabulary in the book there is a glossary after that also. Priced at $4.95 it’s a good value, especially for young readers who want to get their Wonder Woman on. This is good reading for advanced first graders or any second grader. Those on the early reading scale of either group might need help with some words, but they’ll be able to navigate most of it by themselves.