Monday, March 05, 2012

Are super heroes and heroes the same?


Are "super heroes" and "heroes" really that different from one another?

Aside from the cape, or the tights, masks and emblems, I think they might, just might, be very close relatives. And perhaps children, quite effortlessly, know this.

In my latest picture book Do Super Heroes Have Teddy Bears? (May 2012,) a little boy and his sister don capes to play outdoors in the mud. They save-the-day, escape the perils of a raining afternoon, conquer their vegetables, all the while striking their own unique pose. Yet might these small playful acts of "pretending" to be a super hero, be the precursor for real heroism one day? Perhaps, their makeshift capes allow them to try heroism on, for size. So that one day they might recognize a need when it faces them on the fly.

And so...  the lines between the two, blur.