The Mighty Avengers: An Origin Story

Superheroes are big at the library. A few times a week, I find myself having superhero conversations with kids who come in looking for a book or, sometimes, just someone with whom to share a recent superhero story. (Thanks to my friend Mike for always making sure I'm up to date on the latest superhero news!) I order lots of superhero books, and my branch has a permanent display of all our titles for easy access and browsing. Wonder Woman? Got it! Batman? Got it! Green Hornet? You bet! Spider-Man? Yep. We even get an assortment of monthly comic books.

Moral of that story: my library is superhero friendly for kids. I was recently intrigued, though, by the arrival of The Might Avengers: An Origin Story, a children's picture book adapted by Rich Thomas and illustrated by Pat Olliffe and Hi-Fi Design. In my mind, the publication of this picture book is tied to the upcoming film release of The Avengers movie. The book tells the story of how the Avengers came to be a team of evil-fighting superheroes, and it includes great illustrations alongside a brief, clearly-worded story. I think young superhero fans will really like this book, especially those who have older siblings also into superheroes or those who have been seeing Avengers previews.

My one point of hesitation is this: if this book is a tie-in with The Avengers film, what do we make of the fact that the picture book is for a young audience while the movie is rated PG-13? As I mentioned, I think the book stands on its own really well, so the book adds quality to our collection in and of itself. As a public librarian, however, I have to anticipate some sort of conflict, even if just with one young customer, will result from being able to access the book but not the movie. Any other librarians anticipating this sort of situation?