Super Doople - K.A. Cummins - ★★

AUTHOR & ILLUSTRATOR: K.A. Cummins

GENRE: Children's Picture Book

RATING: 2 stars.

In a Nutshell: Cute illustrations but somewhat problematic story. Also, I thought there would be more ‘Super-Doople’ stuff, but this is more like a superhero backstory.

Story Synopsis:

Little Doople has always wanted to fly. No matter how much the other dooples warned him, he didn’t listen. However, one day, the worse happens and Doople ends up falling and shattering. However, times have changed since Humpty Dumpty’s days, and Scientist Doople has a secret formula to put Little Doople back together. However, unknown to her, the formula was faulty. As such, while Little Doople does get his body back, there is an unexpected side-effect…. You guess it. He is now…. Super Doople!

Had the title and cover page not promised a Super Doople story, I might have read this as a tale of a little fellow who doesn’t stop believing in his dreams. However, the story as is, comes with many negatives:

❌ Doople doesn’t listen to the advice given to him by either his teachers/other adults or his friends. I don’t like children’s books that advocate such irresponsible behaviour. Sensible advice must always be followed.

❌ The ‘crash’ scene, with Doople smashed like an egg yolk over the pavement and his body/shell shattered into pieces, might be scary for little kids.

❌ Even after going through a life-threatening accident, Doople still doesn’t learn his lesson and is again determined to fly. There’s no regret, no apology. Basically, he doesn’t face any consequences for his mistake. (And seems to have been rewarded with a superpower instead!)

❌ The book means to be about those resilient enough to get up again after falling. But in real life, there’s no superpower involved in this endeavour. So what is the book saying - unless you have a superpower, trying again is pointless?

❌ Why is the story called ‘Super Doople’ when Little Doople isn’t Super Doople for most of the plot? Children might mistake this to be a superhero story.

❌ The story ends with Doople being called ‘Super Doople’. No further adventures, again proving the title a misnomer, and the cover page, misleading.

❌ Doople’s superpower is used as the reason he can fly at the end. But there’s no explanation provided about what makes him ‘super’. The ‘superpowers’ are never revealed.

❌ There are three discussion questions at the end. But honestly, these again serve to justify why whatever happened to Doople was okay. Two of the three questions seemed close-ended, even if they were framed otherwise.

On the pro side:

✔ The illustrations (sketched by the author herself) are nice.

✔ I like how the story takes Humpty Dumpty as an inspiration both for Doople’s appearance and for the plot itself.

✔ The text is simple enough for kids to grasp.

Sadly, the negatives far outweigh the positives for me. If this is intended as the start of a planned series, the story might work as a prequel of sorts, but it needs to be clearly indicated if so.

All in all, this is a rare children’s book that I don’t feel right about advocating. It has its fun moments, but the shortcomings are too many to ignore. That said, a review is always an individual opinion. If you do pick this up, I hope you are able to find far more positives in this indie work and relish it as was intended.

My thanks to author K.A. Cummins for providing me with a complimentary copy of “Super Doople”. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.