Read NZ Book Review - The Terrible Trio: The (not so) Superheroes by Swapna Haddow (Scholastic, 2025)

By Read NZ Te Pou Muramura | Posted: Tuesday Apr 07, 2026

Reviewed by Claire Cheeseman, Teacher, Laingholm Primary School, Auckland

The Terrible Trio: The (not so) Superheroes - Reviews • Read NZ Te Pou Muramura

This fantastic comic style book centres around Zeb (the zebra), Madge (the penguin), and Barry (the lemur). They join the line to receive superpowers but what they get isn’t quite what they expected.

The illustrations are fabulous and shows the great personality of the animals. The story has some fantastic bits of humour in it that will make children roar with laughter. There’s a few eventful sections that would be great for children discussing or predicting what will happen next. It’s also a great precursor to some creative art too - animals with superpowers.

I loved the book and would definitely promote it in my classroom. It would appeal to boys and girls who are struggling readers as it’s easy to read, small bites of text and funny! But it's also a great cuddle on the couch book with your own child to talk about and laugh at the story and illustrations. A must for young readers!