Our 11-year-old son read The Monster Who Wasn’t first. I started to read it, found it too confusing, and put it by our bed when he walked in the room. “So, you’re reading that?” he asked. I told him that I started to read it, but got lost a chapter or two into the book. He stated that it was a great book, full of monsters and action and that I’d really enjoy it. Our oldest son reads books like I’d eat bacon if there were an endless supply of it in the kitchen. When I finished The Monster Who Wasn’t I agreed with him for the part.
Never judge a book by its cover, we all know that adage. Because I judged this cover I was hesitant to read Mary, The Adventures of Mary Shelley’s Great-Great-Great-Great-Great-Granddaughter. It looks too girly, has a ‘Twilight’ vibe that sends the wrong kind of shivers up my spine and the great to the fifth power subtitle seems all too gimmicky. Hello crow, you taste rather good right now. In reality, Mary, The Adventures of Mary Shelley’s Great-Great-Great-Great-Great-Granddaughter is a delicious surprise of a graphic novel that acknowledges its tenuous lineage into a real page-turner that will satisfy middle school readers of any ilk.
This Wednesday is new comic book day and that means that some cool all age comic books will be popping up in your local store. If you’re not sure where your local comic book store is, just visit comic book store locator and type in your zip code.
Normally, Halloween week is one of the busiest of the year for new releases. This year it’s a bit slower than most, but there are still some great all-age comic books for readers in upper elementary school and up. Those elementary school readers, who also like some great art to move the story along are most likely fans of Geronimo Stilton. For those people, Geronimo Stilton Reporter-Paws Off Cheddarface! from Papercutz will be just their jam.
If your reader is just a bit older then check out Mega Man Fully Charged. It’s got more action than Sonic and all of the humor too, it’s a great series for ages 9 and up. For those Iron Giant fans, you need to see X-Ray Robot. Issue #3 of this series is out and has the classic vibe of that movie, plus a very smart plot that will hook middle school readers. To check out all of this week’s all-age comic books just jump over the image and click away.
TPR. I remember being taught that when I first started teaching ESL. Essentially, TPR is engaging tactile senses, like touching or physically moving something to reinforce a new concept. Spooky Pants, A Turn the Wheel Book is a board book that takes that principle, gives it laughs and a fun Halloween board book vibe to educate and entertain crawlers through pre-k.
Young children are smart. At their core they want to learn, it’s just up to the older people who are taking care of them to get fun, educational materials in their way. For the sake of this review, young children is referring to those kids who are between two and six. These are the crawlers and first-grade kids who have nothing better to do than learn, so hop to it parents. That is where Hello Numbers! What Can You Do? An Adventure Beyond Counting can hardwire these kids for math brilliance, with a little assistance.
Readers have to hand it Fart Quest. It clearly states what the book is about in its title. Granted, you have no idea what the quest entails, but are fairly certain that someone is on a journey and they’re probably gassy. Author Aaron Reynolds takes a simple premise and makes it so much more. Not content to simply make an upper elementary through middle school book; he’s written an adventure book about a mage in training that, at times, has more in common with Lord of the Rings than Captain Underpants.
Everything You Need to Ace Geometry In One Big Fat Notebook is a high school academic’s dream. It’s from the Big Fat Notebook series of books on Workman Publishing. If you have a middle school student then you might be familiar with these books. They’re incredibly helpful, present information in a way that’s fun to read, and makes the content stick. The books are loaded with color, faux notebook paper, and real test examples of the subject that they’re covering. What you may not know is that the series has some books that skew older to those high school students.
This week in all age comic books has lots of our go-to comic books, some cool teen releases, as well as a couple of great board books for those pre-k through kindergarten geeklings. Our favorite and our 11-year-old son’s are Scooby-Doo Where Are You! #106 and The Amazing Spider-Man #50. The former is a classic comic book that’s at home in any elementary school library (or home setting!) and the latter is great for mid-elementary school readers and up (way up!).
Those middle school readers need to check out Mighty Morphin Power Rangers #55 or Jim Henson Dark Crystal Age Resistance #12. Both of these series will have enough action to keep ages 12 and up entertained, as well, as some great dialogue to push the comic forward to a deeper level.
There are also two awesome board books out for geeklings aged three and up (or younger!). Black Widow My First Mighty Marvel Board Book and The Dark Crystal Book of Opposites have those thicker than average pages that pre-K and lower elementary kids want to read. When I was that age the board books weren’t nearly as cool. For the entire list of all age comic books just jump on past the graphic.
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