Temper, temper
Anna Humprey’s middle-grade heroine proves anger isn’t always a bad thing
BY SARAH ELLIS
FICTION
Clara Humble and the Not-So-Super Powers
Anna Humphrey; Lisa Cinar, ill.
Owlkids Books, Ages 8-12
NAUGHTINESS IS the lifeblood of the comic middle-grade novel, but it presents the writer with a problem in this age of didacticism: how can a kid get into energetic and imaginative trouble when adults are always around guiding, chiding, and being wise? Author Anna Humphrey traverses this minefield nimbly, letting her nine-year-old heroine Clara get into plenty of scrapes while keeping the lessons to a minimum and the adults on the sidelines. Clara is determined to be a superhero and convinces herself – and the reader – that she has telekinetic powers, with a specialty in overturning containers of liquid. Over the course of the pleasantly daffy novel, she uses her powers in the pursuit of two goals: to prevent her beloved grandmother, Momo, from moving away to a seniors’ residence, and to harass the mean kids from a neighbouring school.