A Really Super Hero

A Really Super Hero

I want to be a hero and a really super one, so my mum sewed my undies with an S upon the bum.

Sometimes superheroes get everything right and effortlessly save the world, and sometimes ... they don't.

A wonderfully warm and funny celebration of imagination, play, and the importance of having a good sidekick.

 

A delightful story of one child's imaginative day with beautiful rhyming.

 

Charlotte Lance is an illustrator from Melbourne. She works predominately in book publishing, and also has an illustrated children's T-shirt label BOY GIRL. She sells selected work as prints, and occasionally exhibits her work.


A Really Super Hero
Allen and Unwin
Author: Charlotte Lance
ISBN: 9781743313022
RRP: $19.99

Interview with Charlotte Lance

Question: Where did the idea for A Really Super Hero originate?

Charlotte Lance: The idea came from a short poem that I wrote about a kind of sideways super hero. That is, not quite up to super standards but so very eager nonetheless.


Question: If you could have any superpower – what would you want?

Charlotte Lance: I think I'd like to be able to play with time. When you feel as though time is slipping by, to slow it down would be a great relief. There are other times I'd fast so far forward and skip the boring bits. And if I changed my mind I'd just go back. This would surely end badly but I'm fairly safe from finding out. It's an unlikely power to come to my way.


Question: What do you enjoy most about writing and illustrating children's books?

Charlotte Lance: I love feeling free from everyday stuff and being able to mill about in my imagination.


Question: How did you approach this project – did you write or illustrate first?

Charlotte Lance: A little bit of both. The text had to guide the story through to the end so that was more important in the early stages. Illustrations would have been scrapped if I'd completed them too early because the text changes so many times before its right. But I was always scribbling all over the pages, it helps me to think and tell the story. As an illustrator the visual stuff comes very easily and is an equally good way of storytelling.


Question: What is the important of rhyming text?

Charlotte Lance: Stories can be told beautifully either way, but there is a sort of predictability that is built by the momentum of poetry and rhyming text. In this case it worked really well for A Really Super Hero because there is repetition in the telling of the story and its momentum carries itself to the end almost on its own. It just rolls on with some sense of what's coming next so when/if this rhythm changes it is a surprise for readers ie. the final page. It's also easy for kids to remember because it's more like learning a song. That can be really beneficial for little ones.

 

A Really Super Hero
Allen and Unwin
Author: Charlotte Lance

ISBN: 9781743313022
RRP: $19.99