Author/Illustrator: Peter Catalanotto
Publisher: Atheneum, 2012
Genre: fiction
Themes: curiousity, humor, real-life super-heroes
Age Level: 4-8
Opening: He was Question Boy, squinting hard against the rising sun. His boots scraped the ground. His cape fluttered in the breeze.
Synopsis: From the publisher: It’s a factual face-off in this superhero picture book. Question Boy wants answers. He lives for them. But none of the town’s action heroes—Oil Man, Paperboy, Police Woman—can satisfy Question Boy’s heroic need to know! Enter Little Miss Know-It-All. She has an answer for every who-what-where-when-and-how…and what she doesn’t know she simply makes up.
Why I like this book: What a grand idea to have these two, whom we all know so well, meet up and battle it out. I am a collector of random facts myself so this hits me square in the heart! The watercolors have a real but funky feel to them; I have to wonder what kind of paper Catalanotto uses. Also among the town’s super-heroes are Garbage Man and Mailman – how could I not appreciate this book!
Resource/Activity: play Trivial Pursuit; Have the students compete in finding the answers to a list of questions in the reference section of the library – no googling! Read off a fun-fact list at the beginning of the school week and see who can recount any at the end of the week; Fun-fact show-and-tell hour – let students have fun sharing ones they find on their own.
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julie rowan-zoch 
This sounds like a TeRRiFiC read aloud!! Thanks for the lead.
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Thanks for stopping by Barbara!
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Oh, this sounds great! Question Boy and Miss Know-It-All seem to appear all over the world, don’t they? I’m sure kids will love this book! Great activity suggestions, as well.
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Thanks Beth. I love the idea of giving an inquisitive boy a cape!
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A very clever plot, if you ask me…sounds like a fun read, Julie! Thanks for sharing…
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Yes, rather unique idea.
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What a cool book! Yep we sure have some of those down here too! …lol.
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I know you do – big Slinky Malinky and Co fan!
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I think I have a know-it-all and question boy…in one kid!
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Thanks to his parents!
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Love this! My oldest son’s friends used to call him the walking dictionary, so I guess he would be Dictionary Boy? I love your activity suggestions, too. Have you seen the game Timeline? We’ve been amazed discovering when things were invented. It’s rarely what we expect when we’re playing.
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No, I haven’t seen the game – is it a good pick for a 16yr old as a Christmas present? Who still likes games, thank goodness! If you develop your D-Boy plot, lemme know!
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Ha…Love the cover and the title. And in case I haven’t mentioned it, I really like your banner! So Julie!!!!.
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Oh, wow! This one sounds like SO MUCH FUN! How can you not love a book full of super heroes like this? My library list is getting so long I won’t be able to leave… I’ll just have to move in 🙂 Love your idea of trivial pursuit! Thanks so much for sharing this one, Julie! 🙂
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It is certainly a fun mixture of realism and fantasy!
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I have one or two question boys and three or four Little Miss Know it Alls. Might be fun to see if they can recognize themselves in story!
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I hope you mean in your classroom! Only so many of them in a family could cause a bit of chaos!
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This is a great find. I wished I had seen it first. Great review and comments. Good book for kids a little older.
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I’m glad you did see it first – here! I enjoy finding PBs for older kids too!
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What a unique idea, but I guess that’s why it is published! 🙂
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You might enjoy this post from Laura Sassi: http://laurasassitales.wordpress.com/2012/07/16/picture-books-with-punch/
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Sounds like another winner. No pressure, but every book I’ve gotten from your list recently has been a home run with Enzo. 🙂
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So glad to hear Enzo has such good taste! May be a bit ‘wordy’ for him though. I was surprised to find a book definitely meant for slightly older children than what we had heard about at the conference.
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