Shell shocker

The Flash (aka Barry Allen) joins Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman in the DC Super Heroes series of chapter books, and although he may not have quite the same cachet, this book is a fine showcase for demonstrating how nifty his powers can be. The Flash is a super multitasker: diffusing a ticking time bomb, shooting off to save the zoo from a burst dam, making sure a building doesn't squash a school, and foiling two villains, all within the span of about 10 minutes. A few full-color comics illustrations make this an even easier sell.--Chipman, Ia. Copyright 2010 Booklist

Gr 2-4-These chapter-book adaptations of popular comic superheroes have great, full-page illustrations, and the onomatopoeia is displayed graphically as in the old Adam West "Batman" episodes. The covers are 3-D holograms that will attract kids. In the first book, Hal Jordan is a test pilot, flying 41,000 feet above the earth when a green flash shoots past him. All of the controls on his plane die out and the jet begins a hasty descent. Before it hits, it is surrounded by a strange green light that stops the impact and pulls him into the desert where he finds an alien spaceship that has crashed. The alien gives Hal a green ring and tells him that he is now part of the Green Lantern Corps. In Shell Shocker, Barry is Central City's top police scientist, but nobody knows his hidden identity as the Flash, the fastest man alive. When someone plants a bomb in the police station, he has only 10 minutes to disarm it when he finds out that the Top, an evil villain, is wreaking havoc in an observatory, the city dam is about to break, and a building is about to fall on a school full of children. This is no problem for the Flash though. Action-packed titles for fans of these superheroes.-Erik Carlson, White Plains Public Library, NY (c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.