Anzu the Great Kaiju

Anzu the Great Kaiju, Benson Shum’s coming-of-age tale, follows one Kaiju making his mark on his city while also making his family proud. This book is ideal for school-aged children, particularly children on the older side, ages six to eight, as they have the capacity to listen to longer stories with a narrative arc and are beginning to increase their vocabulary.

Shum achieves a lot in this seemingly simple story; he introduces young readers to several concepts, including sincerity, kindness, disappointment, family pride, and individual uniqueness. Consisting of a longer narrative, Anzu the Great Kaiju introduces readers to more sophisticated concepts and vocabulary. For example, Shum combines longer, more complex words into the narrative; words such as Kaiju, mayhem, destruction, and radiated. Such words provide opportunities for adult readers to pause and ask children open-ended questions about the narrative.

Shum’s story invites interaction from young readers. As Anzu, a young Kaiju born with superpowers to strike fear in the heart of a city, attempts to terrorize his city, trying, but failing, to cause destruction, the author employs a pattern using onomatopoeia. Many pages consist of large words in bold font —Shazam! Swoosh! Smash! Shwack! — inviting interaction from young readers who can pronounce these silly words. This book isn’t overly educational, but it’s fun and relatable to children who also struggle with new challenges.

Anzu the Great Kaiju works well as a read-aloud. The text is large, the font is easy to read, and the bold simple graphic illustrations, many of which employ a graphic novel format, are simple and not overly cluttered and depict Anzu employing his powers and the city folk mocking him and going about their day. This mockery is an embarrassment for his family. There is much for children to decode in the storyline and the illustrations as Anzu attempts to live up to his parents’ expectations that he’ll wreak havoc on his city, only to embrace his true superpower, one of kindness and a love of nature. In choosing joy over terror, Anzu is eventually worshipped by his city’s inhabitants, and he realizes he can be a good Kaiju on his own terms.