With Project Superhero, adult non-fiction author E. Paul Zehr (Becoming Batman) makes the leap to children’s books, with help from seasoned animator Kris Pearn.

Students in Jessie’s Grade 8 social studies class are challenged to research a superhero in preparation for the “Superhero Slam,” a debate to determine the best crusader (caped or otherwise), with bonus marks for incorporating information from other subjects. Jessie becomes immersed in her quest to prove the supremacy of Batgirl.

The novel takes the form of Jessie’s journal and includes “her research” – scientific facts and transcripts of real interviews. These feature people who have extreme physical professions (hockey player Hayley Wickenheiser and astronaut Nicole Stott), are involved in the comics or the superhero industries (Batgirl comics writer Bryan Q. Miller), or are otherwise inspirational.

Zehr’s concept is good in theory, but juggling character and plot development with so much non-fictional material is not easy, and the fictional element suffers. Some sentences reduce Jessie to a mouthpiece rather than establishing her as a relatable teenage girl: “Like any teen (and actually people of any age), sometimes Batgirl (and me too!) might be tempted to slip into impulse eating when things aren’t going well” and “I’m proud of being a girl and getting active.”

The stakes are also quite low: Jessie is motivated solely by the direction of her teacher and a slightly irksome boy in her class, whom she says is “like some kind of annoying kryptonite to my super girl-ness.” With nice friends, a good family life, and no substantial fears or insecurities, it is unclear why this assignment really matters to Jessie or how it could conceivably sustain her undivided attention for a full year.

Pearn’s commercial comics illustration style, with wide-eyed characters and plenty of motion, is perfectly suited to the subject matter, which, despite its failure to engage as fiction, will appeal to hardcore superhero fans normally leery of any reading material that isn’t segmented into panels.