The Last City of Krypton. (Superman: Tales of the Fortress of Solitude). Michael Dahl. Illustrated by Luciano Vecchio & Tim Levins. North Mankato, MN: Stone Arch Books/Capstone Press (Distributed in Canada by Magenta Entertainment Ltd.), 2017. 40 pp., hardcover, $17.99 (USD). ISBN 978-1-4965-4394-3. Grades 1-3 / Ages 6-8. Review by John Dryden. ** /4
	A Buried Starship. (Superman: Tales of the Fortress of Solitude). Michael Dahl. Illustrated by Luciano Vecchio & Tim Levins. North Mankato, MN: Stone Arch Books/Capstone Press (Distributed in Canada by Magenta Entertainment Ltd.), 2017. 40 pp., hardcover, $17.99 (USD). ISBN 978-1-4965-4395-0. Grades 1-3 / Ages 6-8. Review by John Dryden. ** /4

excerpt:

“I knew your father, Jor-El,” says Brainiac. “As soon as I saw you, I knew you were the son of Krypton’s greatest scientist.”

“I am from Krypton too,” he says.

“It doesn’t matter where you’re from,” says Superman. “You’re going to prison.”

(From The Last City of Krypton.)


Lois Lane takes one last look around the fortress of Solitude.

“Thanks for the tour, Superman. “ she says. “I’ll have to tell Clark all about this.”

Superman smiles and glances back at his favorite memento.

Clark knows all about this, thinks the Man of Steel. Thanks to the starship from Krypton. (From A Buried Starship.)

In The Last City of Krypton, Brainiac, the robot who shrinks and collects worlds, has the nerve to do this to Superman’s home planet, Krypton. He then does the same to Earth! Superman saves Earth, but just as he is about to do away with Brainiac once and for all, Brainiac threatens the jar that now holds Krypton and launches it out the window of his spacecraft!

      Superman chooses to rescue Krypton, of course, rather than let his native planet and the inhabitants perish, but Brainiac escapes. The miniature Krypton is taken to Superman’s Fortress of Solitude to await Superman’s efforts to save the planet and its people.

      In A Buried Starship, Lois Lane, who is creating a newspaper article for the Daily Planet, gets to visit Superman’s Fortress of Solitude to see a collection of souvenirs from Superman’s adventures. She sees his little rocket ship on which he travelled to Earth. His arrival as a wee toddler is explained as he is found by the Kents in a field and, in fact, saves their lives on his very first day on Earth!

      Although I tried to get many different styles of young readers to engage with these books, they proved unpopular, which is too bad. Both of these short books look appealing at the outset. They are designed as high interest, low vocabulary short stories for grades 2-3. There are some comic-like illustrations throughout each book, but some pages are left unillustrated, and the sparse text covers the two-page spreads. The illustrations are quite good, but, when they are absent from the two-page spreads, the books suddenly feel less interesting. This observation is both a compliment to the illustrators, Luciano Vecchio and Tim Levins, and a challenge to the publisher to try to give the books more depth by having each page have some illustrations.

      I applaud the effort of Stone Arch Books (Capstone Publishing). Older readers who struggle tend to want to have books like their peers, but they need short stories that help them develop their reading ability. Younger readers like illustrations to assist them in understanding the tale. These stories by Michael Dahl are a good start, but they are too simple looking for a higher age bracket and miss the mark in thoroughly engaging the younger readers. I would recommend these books for a grade 1 or 2 class, perhaps even grade 3.

Recommended with Reservations.

John Dryden is a teacher in BC’s Cowichan Valley.

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