Captain Joe to the Rescue! (Book One). Emily Madill. Illustrated by Luke Winkelmans. Nanaimo, BC: Em & Joe Books (www.emilymadill.com or www.captainjoebooks.com), 2011. 28 pp., pbk., $11.95. ISBN 978-0-9812579-0-7. Grades 1-3 / Ages 6-8. Review by Val Nielsen. *1/2 /4
	Captain Joe Saves the Day! (Book Two). Emily Madill. Illustrated by Luke Winkelmans Nanaimo, BC: Em & Joe Books (www.emilymadill.com or www.captainjoebooks.com), 2011. 28 pp., pbk., $11.95. ISBN 978-0-9812579-1-4. Grades 1-3 / Ages 6-8. Review by Val Nielsen. *1/2 /4
	Captain Joe's Gift! (Book Three). Emily Madill. Illustrated by Luke Winkelmans. Nanaimo, BC: Em & Joe Books (www.emilymadill.com or www.captainjoebooks.com), 2011. 28 pp., pbk., $11.95. ISBN 978-0-9812579-2-1. Grades 1-3 / Ages 6-8. Review by Val Nielsen. *1/2 /4
	Captain Joe's Choice (Book Four). Emily Madill. Illustrated by Luke Winkelmans. Nanaimo, BC: Em & Joe Books (www.emilymadill.com or www.captainjoebooks.com), 2011. 24 pp., pbk., $11.95. (Set of four $39.95) ISBN 978-0-9812579-3-8. Grades 1-3 / Ages 6-8. Review by Val Nielsen. *1/2 /4
	Captain Joe Teaching Resources. Emily Madill. Nanaimo, BC: Em & Joe Books (www.emilymadill.com or www.captainjoebooks.com), 2011. 119 pp., pbk., $19.95. ISBN 978-0-9812579-5-2. Grades 1-3 / Ages 6-8. Review by Val Nielsen. *1/2 /4

excerpt:

Hi, my name is Joe. I would really like to share something with you.

I have a superpower!

Like me, you have this power too. It's something you were born with.

I discovered my Captain Joe power in the middle of a very dark night. I had a dream. It was so scary it woke me up!

Joe, the young hero of the story, explains how his thoughts sometimes go to a deep, dark place he calls the "swampy pit." Such thoughts make him feel terrible. But on one particular stormy night, his room is filled with a bright blue light, and Wilfred, a wizard, appears. Wilfred gives him a magical wand which looks just like a plain old stick to Joe. Wilfred explains the purpose of the magic wand is to help him take charge of his thoughts, especially the ones that are dark and swampy! He tells Joe: "Use your wand and zap your thoughts anytime they don't feel right. This will make room for happy thoughts." The young narrator finds that, as "Captain Joe," he can use his "zap" stick any time to call up his magic power to banish negative thoughts. He can be the boss of his mind, making sure that happy, constructive thoughts overrule gloomy, self-defeating ones. The stories are published in the form of four illustrated paperback books, each one featuring Joe invoking his "Captain Joe" power to beat out depression, anxiety, envy and disappointment. To go with the concepts presented in the books, the author has put together a companion guide, Captain Joe Teaching Resources, for educators, consisting of 119 pages of activities, worksheets, coloring pages, learning objectives and assessment rubrics.

     The central idea for the Captain Joe series is one with which most adults will be familiar. In psychological terms, it is often called cognitive therapy and is likely to be promoted by psychotherapists as a way of treating anxiety and depression. According to this theory, humans have the capacity to find within themselves a dimension of consciousness or a deeper self which can oversee thoughts, assess them and send the destructive ones packing. When a person engages this ability, as Eckhart Tolle, author of The Power of Now, puts it: "The thought loses its power over you and quickly subsides…" Each of Madill's stories is set up to illustrate this "power of now" type of thinking. When negative thoughts threaten to take over and spoil Joe's day, he employs his Captain Joe super-power—a sort of meta-cognition—to "zap" them out of his head. Madill sees her stories as helping young children to use their imaginations to choose constructive thoughts that will promote healthy self-esteem and self-awareness.

      The author is to be commended for addressing what is an extremely important and, at times, (particularly in the past) neglected aspect of education—that of developing students' above-mentioned self-awareness and self-esteem. Unfortunately, Madill's theme-driven stories are predictable, repetitive, and overly simplistic. Plots are shallow and characters one-dimensional. While it is true that sharing stories with children is a time-honoured way of teaching values and behavior to the young, the Captain Joe stories (unlike fairy tales, fables or even the ever-popular Berenstain Bears series) offers little to engage a child's interest or imagination. Though well-intentioned, well illustrated and well put together, the Captain Joe series is not recommended as a purchase for the elementary library or classroom resource collection.

Not recommended.

Valerie Nielsen, a retired teacher-librarian, lives in Winnipeg, MB.

To comment on this title or this review, send mail to cm@umanitoba.ca.

Copyright © the Manitoba Library Association. Reproduction for personal use is permitted only if this copyright notice is maintained. Any other reproduction is prohibited without permission.

Published by The Manitoba Library Association ISSN 1201-9364

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