Super Reads for Superman Day

It’s a bird; it’s a plane. It’s Superman Day here at Mixed-Up Files (and everywhere else). In 2013, DC Comics declared June 12 to be Superman Day.  To celebrate, we’ve gathered some of the greatest middle-grade reads featuring the Man of Steel, his family, and his friends. So, drop that kryptonite, don your capes, and get ready to go up up and away with these super stories.

 

Graphic Novels

Super Sons: The Polarshield Project by Ridley Pearson, illustrated by Ile Gonzalez. Super Sons follows Jon Kent (Superman’s son), who moves to the town of Wyndemere when the melting polar ice caps threaten the cities of Coleumbria. With his father away fighting the devastating climate change, and a mysterious illness spreading across Wyndemere, Jon teams up with Damian “Ian” Wayne and a mysterious girl named Candace to find the source of the disease and stop it from spreading. This new out-of-continuity story was one of the first titles to launch DC Zoom, the middle grade imprint of DC Comics.

 

 

Secret Hero Society by Derek Fridolfs, illustrated by Dustin Nguyen. In this series, a young Bruce Wayne, Diana Prince, and Clark Kent team up for middle school misadventures. The investigate a roving band of clowns, encounter a lake monster, and accidentally time travel. Other DC superhero favorites, such as Green Arrow and Cyborg, join them, and they even face some familiar villains.

 

 

 

 

Superman Family Adventures by Art Baltazar and Franco Aureliani. This fun series created by the Eisner Award-winning team behind Tiny Titans brings all the whole super family together. Superman teams up with Supergirl, Superboy (and his dog) to fight classic foes.

 

 

 

 

 

Superman: Adventures of the Man of Steel by Scott McCloud and Paul Dini, illustrated by Rick Burchett, Terry Austin, an Bret Blevins. Inspired by the 90’s cartoons, this older collection of comics was made by the show’s creators. It’s essential reading for any Superman fan!

 

 

 

 

Fiction

DC Super Pets by various authors, illustrated by Art Baltazar- Even superheros have pets! This chapter book series follows the crime-fighting adventures of the pets of popular DC superheros, including Superman’s monkey Beppo. There’s also Krypto, Superboy’s dog, who appears in Superman Family Adventures, and Supergirl’s pets- a horse and a cat.

 

 

 

 

Supergirl at Super Hero High by Lisa Yee. When Krypton is destroyed, Supergirl lands on Earth and sent to Super Hero High. Supergirl has bad grades and trouble controlling her powers. But when an alien invasion threatens her new friends, she’ll find out what it really means to be a superhero. Based on the DC Superhero Girls series, this is a superhero story with a lot of heart.

 

 

 

 

Superman: Solar System Adventures by Steve Korte, illustrated by Dario Brizuela- When Superman’s enemies invade our solar system, he journeys to the different planets to fight them. This series infuses real science facts into superhero action.

 

 

 

 

And if you like nonfiction, check out the story of how Superman came to be.  Boys of Steel by Marc Tyler Nobleman, illustrated by Ross Macdonald tells the story of Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, the creators of Superman.

 

Mimi Powell on Email
Mimi Powell
Mimi Powell decided to run away to a theme park instead of a museum. It was so much fun she decided to live in Orlando, FL... land of theme parks. When she's not riding roller coasters, Mimi writes scary stories and buys books for libraries. She can be found on Twitter and on her website, talking about books and writing.