What's My Superpower?

September 4, 2017
In a story dotted with Inuktitut words, Johnston (Those Who Run in the Sky) introduces Nalvana, a girl who wears a blanket cape and an old pair of snowmobiling goggles—it’s her superhero costume. Newcomer Mack draws Nalvana with a button nose, dots for eyes, and an excited smile; her pet husky galumphs along beside her bicycle. The Arctic village they cycle through is lined with small, wooden houses, the landscape rocky and treeless. Nalvana longs to have a superpower, the sort she readily sees in her friends: Davidee “can run faster than a Ski-Doo,” Maata can swing high, and Joanasie can make an inuksuk out of stone and an iglu from snow. Nalvana praises and encourages them all. It’s Nalvana’s mother who identifies her daughter’s talent: “Your superpower is making people feel good about themselves.” Readers who struggle with doubts about their own abilities will be reassured while simultaneously recognizing that children who live in distant places have problems not so different from their own. A glossary is included. Ages 3–5.