How I Became a Super Hero [Paperback]

Dan Greenburg (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 85 pages
• Publisher: Scholastic (2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0439219442
• ISBN-13: 978-0439219440
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5.2 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #872,726 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Dan Greenburg has known success as a humorist, a novelist, a journalist, a screenwriter, and a playwright. Now he has turned his considerable talent to writing an original new series of books for a younger audience. Inspired by his own son Zack, for whom the hero of his new series, The Zack Files, is named, Greenburg has combined his love of humor, his interest in things paranormal, and his talent for writing to create books that kids like Zack will want to read. With 18 books to his credit, Dan Greenburg's work has been translated into 19 languages and is available in 22 countries. His best-selling titles for adults include How to Be a Jewish Mother, How to Make Yourself Miserable, Scoring, Love Kills, How to Avoid Love and Marriage and Exes. His previous books for children include Young Santa, The Bed Who Ran Away From Home, Jumbo the Boy and Arnold the Elephant. His articles have appeared in the New Yorker, Esquire, Ms., Time, Newsweek, Life, New York magazine, Cosmopolitan, the New York Times Book Review, Vanity Fair, Playboy, and have been reprinted in 33 anthologies of humor and satire in the United States and England. Born and raised in Chicago, Dan Greenburg received a bachelor of arts degree from the University of Illinois, and his M.A. from UCLA. He is the father of Zack, a teenage son, who played the title role in the motion picture, LORENZO'S OIL, and served as the inspiration for The Zack Files. Mr. Greenburg lives in Westchester County, New York.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars funny fantasy adventure, June 18, 2003

By 

"pnoyce2" (Weston, MA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hijacking of Manhattan (Maximum Boy) (Turtleback)

Fans of Dan Greenburg's "Zack Files" series will happily devour books about Maximum Boy, a ten-year old who accidentally becomes a superhero after touching space rocks on a field trip. The books, told in the first person, are fast-paced, full of hyperbole, and engagingly absurd. In this first book, villains kidnap Manhattan by towing it out to sea. Parents will enjoy the matter-of-fact way in which Max's parents react to his superhero status, the short-sighted way in which New York's mayor rejects Max's help, Max's comments on the snooty characters of other superheroes, and a number of other light satirical touches. I might wish that Max's "kryptonite" was something other than mathematics, but kids will enjoy seeing him quivering weak as jelly whenever confronted with a word problem. For young readers who like humor, adventure, and books that are not too long, this series can be addictive.

2.0 out of 5 stars really bad: are your kids stupid?, June 16, 2009

By 

R. Bagula "Roger L. Bagula" (Lakeside, Ca United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: How I Became a Super Hero (Paperback)

This book is as bad as some b sci-fi movies. They call them
"killer tomatoes"...
There are just a lot of factual errors like Manhattan is an island
and can't be moved like a boat without breaking apart.
I suppose a lot of this stupid dialog with his parents is supposed to be funny: it is mostly just sad.Maximum Boy is a bust for me as a superhero.

2 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars I think this book is very tasteless, September 14, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: How I Became a Super Hero (Paperback)

My children are members of the scholastic book club, and received this book as part of their membership. On the cover there is a picture of the statue of liberty with a gag over her mouth, along with a note "for ransom". I am unsure as to the coincidental timing of this book, due to my children receiving it two days after the hijacking of two airplanes that crashed into the World Trade Center. Also on page 67 there is a reference to the World Trade Center Towers being wobbly and being afraid that they might topple over. There are also several references on pages 82 and 83 that mention in italics "Air Force One". I am sure the author had no idea that such devastation would happen three months after the release of his book. However, it gives an unsettling feeling after reading the title of the book, seeing the towers on the cover, and reading about Air Force One. I for one feel that this book should not have been mailed to children so soon, after such a horrifying event has taken place.