When you know, you know, and even though I don’t have children in that demographic, you know when you see Danny Go. Danny Go! is the manic show for toddlers through first grade that your friend’s children are humming. The thing is, that the music is very catchy. It’s legitimately catchy-in a non-ironic manner, that adults will be bouncing along to the beats too. Their videos have millions upon millions of views. The videos have a wide cast of characters with distinct personalities. They’re hopelessly entertaining and Danny Go’s Volcano Adventure takes that spirit and jams it into an illustrated book for the same age.
Young audiences don’t need that establishing paragraph. They know Danny Go. They laugh at Bearhead. They learn from and enjoy Pap Pap and the STEM lessons. Gerald is the one who provides the music and dance move. Mindy Mango knows all about a responsible diet and isn’t scared to dance. Volcano Adventure is all Danny Go. He’s the only character from Danny Go! in the book. However, the story is such fun and moves so quickly that the only problem young audiences will have with it is that he’s the only character.
Volcano Adventure has Danny Go looking for magical ice gems that are inside an erupting volcano. Why does he need them? Young audiences won’t care. They’ll just see the lanky guy wearing an aviator hat pointing towards a volcano and gamely follow along. But, Danny has to climb up to the top of the volcano. At the base of the mountain, Danny needs the assistance of young audiences to navigate the safest rocks to climb.
He encourages kids to trace the rocks going up the cliff face. He’s going inside a volcano, so of course, don’t touch the lava. Volcano Adventure goes one step further, and invites young readers to join Danny in the boat. Once in the row boat, young readers will have the perspective from things just behind Danny’s head. Oh no, once he finds the treasure chest he needs to unlock it by having readers trace the lock’s insignia, which is a bearhead.
Much like the bearhead lock that the kids are being asked to trace with their fingers, they’ll immediately get the book. They’ve heard of the characters, if they don’t know the specific personality points. When Danny finds the ice gem the reading audience will instinctively know that he needs to do one more thing to defeat the monster and get him out of the volcano to safety.
Danny Go’s Volcano Adventure is a big, illustrated book. Its size is key to its enjoyment for young audiences. The pages are bright, orange lava, deep purple clouds, and Earth-laden rock hues punctuated by searing white and blue ice gems. This is grand scale, silly fun for those young audiences that know. Those toddlers through kindergarten kids who don’t need trains or baby talk to entertain them but do need the silly. This is a great example of a video IP for young audiences successfully re-packaging itself. It captures the mayhem that made it so attractive to that young audience and puts it in a more challenging package for those ages, a book.
Danny Go’s Volcano Adventure is by Danny Go and is illustrated by Aleksandar Zolotic and is available on Abrams Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Abrams Books.
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