32. Wonder Woman: Rumble in the Rainforest

Wonder Woman: Rumble in the Rainforest by Sarah Hines Stephens. Illustrated by Dan Schoening (Canada) - (US)
DC Super Heroes series


Pages: 51
Ages: 8+
Finished: Feb. 8, 2011
First Published: Aug. 2010
Publisher: Stone Arch Books
Genre: children, action, superheroes, environment
Rating: 3/5



First sentence:

In the main ballroom of a hotel, men and women wearing nametags and fancy clothes chatted politely.

Acquired: Received a review copy from Stone Arch Books.

Reason for Reading: This book is too hard for my ds to read on his own and will be read aloud by dh as a bedtime book. But I like my superheroes too and wasn't going to miss out on the fun!

The plot involves a man known for his ruthless business tactics, no matter the harm done to human or nature in the process, who is being honoured for running a plant which makes drinkable water from ocean water on a small rainforest island country. Princess Diana is one of the delegates at the ceremony and she senses this man has not turned over a new leaf. She goes into Wonder Woman mode and discovers that his water treatment facility is just a facade for a much more evil business which is ruining the rainforest in the process. While she is out in the jungle she runs upon two enemies fighting each other: Gorilla Grodd and Poison Ivy. She manages to convince them that while they are not all on the same team, this time they are all on the same side; that of the rainforest.

Personally, I find eco-fiction a little tiring these days but am at least glad to see that this book deals with a real issue that once made headlines but no longer seems as media-worthy these days. Aside from that, I loved the action! What fun to have not one, but two super-villains show up in a story. Particularly Poison Ivy who is a personal favourite female villain. Somehow I've missed meeting Gorilla Grodd before but he adds a high dose of masculinity to the story for boys as do the eventual robots they all end up fighting at the water treatment centre.

Written and illustrated by comic industry professionals, the story and characters all have an authentic feel. Each chapter has at least one full page illustration, some even have two, the pages of pure text are broken up for the reader by using comic book style graphics, in colour, for all the sound effect words. This nicely breaks up a two page spread of text which may otherwise seem daunting to reluctant readers. Great comic action in a chapter book.