Primer by Jennifer Muro
Ashley Rayburn, 13, is a cheerful young woman with a somewhat depressing past. Ashley has moved around in foster care since her father is incarcerated; yet, rather than being innately bad, she offers significant difficulty to the social workers who strive to assist her.
As Ashley discovers new, devoted parents, a close friend, and a place to use her creative abilities, things start to look brighter for her. But when she also discovers a bag full of body paints that have been carefully modified, she becomes the world’s newest superhero, complicating her life even further.
Primer by Jennifer Muro
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Up until Ashley finds herself being sought after by a government organization that wants those paintings back, it’s the best thing that has ever happened to her! She must now decide between protecting her new parents and learning the true meaning of what it means to be a family. The imagery is vibrant. The personality of the main character is perfect. Good humour prevailed.
Ashley is a girl living in a universe where she is the only person in it. At least, she believes that. As her father is in jail, she is actually a little girl who is confined to foster care. She exudes a careless demeanour but is actually quite tender-hearted on the inside. Then, one day, a brand-new family makes an attempt at placing Ashley with them.
She’s made Luke her friend, and she’s living quite comfortably there. Then one day her foster mother appears at the door seeming odd. Later, Ashley makes the decision to peek inside the enigmatic bag her foster mother brought in and stashed away in a closet. Luke and she locate the paint. Plenty of paint tubes. Because Ashley “likes the texture,” she applies them on her skin. I find that it is way too clear that everything she is doing had to be designed that way expressly for the plot at this point. Yet, they conceal it fairly well. Anyway. These are magical paints that bestow superpowers on the wearer!
As she calls herself “Primer,” Ashley must of course use them and become a superhero. Nevertheless, the paints she brought home are needed by her foster mom’s employer. They, therefore, dispatch their most difficult soldier to bring them back. Of course, Ashley and her foster mother have a disagreement over it, and Ashley chooses to leave, taking the paintings with her.
Then, unavoidably, the soldier man and his robot army arrive. But Ashley loses, and all the other paintings are gone aside from the teleportation one. At that point, it just becomes your typical superhero combat scenario. By the way, the soldier’s name is Strack.
She hears a sudden ring on her phone. It’s her foster mother and father. When she answers their video call, it is STRACK! He has, of course, kidnapped her foster parents. She debates whether to confront Strack or simply walk away. She continues to walk away until she turns to look up and notices a picture she created, which for some reason instantly gives her confidence.
Then there is another significant combat scene with Strack, but Ashley is overconfident and acts as though she knows she cannot perish because it is a book and that would be horrifying for young readers. Nonetheless, she succeeds, frees her parents, and they all lead fulfilling lives.
