All Ages Reading: The Maple Ones

A friend of mine recently tried to use DC's New 52 books as an encouragement to his young daughter to read more. He bought the first issues of Wonder Woman and Batgirl. To a casual reader, that would seem like a no-brainer, right?

If my memory is sound (I don't own either book myself), the former includes an image of a decapitated horse and the latter recaps the time that Barb Gordon was gut-shot by the Joker. I don't know if he continued with either series but if so Wonder Woman #7 will require a type of conversation that I suspect he'd rather not get into quite yet.

Too bad he didn't get Catwoman or Red Hood and the Outlaws instead. No, wait...

I thought of him when I found out about The Maples Ones.

It's an "all ages" book (not of the comic variety, mind you), but judging from this press release, appears to be geared more towards a younger age group.

The MapleOnes is great reading for kids aged between 9 and 13, with a plotline that has all the themes that the Canadian public can identify with – a love for nature, honesty, fairness and justice. At the same time, there is excitement, danger and action. The superheroes are multi-ethnic, include both men and women, and have a sharp sense of responsibility towards their country, Canada.

It doesn't feel as though there has been much activity since that release in August 2010, but the "buy the book" link still works so presumably it's still available for purchase for those who may be interested. It may be a better option than, say, a book in which Vindicator murders the relatives who were looking after her daughter then hands said daughter over to Wendigo to play with. For example.