Zapato power: Freddie Ramos takes off

Gr 1-3-Freddie's shoes are pretty worn out and he is in need of a new pair. Serendipitously, a mysterious package arrives, one containing shoes that are more than an average pair of sneakers. These sneakers allow Freddie to run super fast! Freddie uses his logic skills and super fast shoes to help his friends out. Freddie is a likeable character and relatable for many young readers. He sprinkles Spanish words throughout his speech, lives with his mom, and is trying to do better in school. There is some mention of his dad not being around anymore but it is hard to decipher if they are divorced or if he passed away while in combat. Pam Turlow's narration is a bit peppy and uses a high-pitched, babyish voice that at times lacks variety in tones. The storyline isn't especially engaging, but readers may become invested in Freddie and his family and friends. -VERDICT Purchase where the series is popular.-Katie Llera, Bound Brook High School, NJ © Copyright 2017. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Freddie Ramos receives a pair of special sneakers that give him super speed. He uses this power to retrieve a classmate's lunch, identify the perpetrator of graffiti, and ultimately discover the source of the shoes themselves. With its cartoon-style black-and-white illustrations and mostly breezy text, this book is tailor-made for the chapter book set. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.

When a mysterious gift turns out to be superpowered purple sneakers, Freddie Ramos looks for ways to be a superhero. Using his super speed, he fetches a library book. He cleans a wall and a sidewalk where someone had written a bathroom word, and he saves a small dog. Designed for early readers, this chapter book includes frequent black-and-white cartoon illustrations featuring kids with outsized round heads. At one point two comics-style pages interrupt the text to show Freddie searching for the dog. The few Spanish words establish the boy's ethnicity but will be understood in context. Unusually, for the genre, the author works in a back story for her characters: Freddie's soldier father was killed two years earlier; his mother has recently finished school and gotten a better job and nicer apartment for herself and her son. Episodic in nature, the narrative leaves open the possibility for sequels when Freddie discovers the sneaker inventor. An unusually appealing early chapter book. (Fiction. 6-9) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Gr 2–3—Freddie has a single, overworked mom; a soldier father who never came home from war; and an unstable urban landscape in which to play. He finds a pair of winged sneakers that let him run so fast no one can see him, and as he tries to solve the mystery of the shoes' origins, he finds ways to be a hero to those around him. Black-and-white comic-book-style illustrations boost the story's energy and set Freddie up as a superhero. However, the impact of his speed falls a little flat as the author gets caught up in introducing the characters, leaving the bulk of the adventure for the ending. Young readers may lose patience waiting to get to the action. While Freddie fills a gap in most early chapter book collections as a Hispanic hero for new and reluctant readers, most children won't be clamoring for a sequel.—Sarah Townsend, Norfolk Public Library, VA