Children's book reviews, all age comic books, Kidlit, mglit, movies, entertainment and parenting
The Word For Friend has an inspiring message that is impossible to disagree with. The lead character is an anthropomorphic pangolin. To us, a pangolin is a dog-sized version of a roly poly with a long tail. Kemala has just moved to a new place and she doesn’t know the language. The kids in her class don’t speak what she speaks, everything sounds funny and it’s weird to hear the strange new sounds coming from her mouth.
Nicola Killen has a knack for seasonal books. She’s done other books which have a younger demographic and are really cute. It’s her other books that resonate with us, specifically, The Christmas Reindeer, The Little Rabbit and now, The Little Kitten. The My Little Animal Friend series is one that you’ll hold onto in your forever library. They effortlessly ooze mono-chromatic seasonal charm. Reindeer was about winter, ‘Rabbit’ about spring and The Little Kitten is about fall. None of the books are about a specific holiday, rather, they tell a short, illustrated story about an animal during that season. These books have interactive die cut pages that allow you a glimpse into what the story might look like. That, combined with the unique combination of black and white illustrations, with just a couple touches of color add up to a really magical book.
This week at Camp Warner Bros. has a movie from one of the best-and smartest shows on television. Teen Titans GO! is much more than just a kid’s cartoon. It’s incredibly smart, well written and is self-aware enough to break animation boundaries that rival it against The Simpsons or Family Guy. There’s also a go-to craft that’s simple enough for kids to be able to do that allows them to channel their favorite Teen Titan and save money.
We love Rot. Rot, The Cutest in the World is a charming illustrated book about a mutant potato in a land of otherwise charming vegetables that are the cream of the vegetable. Rot is not. However, his attitude is positive; he’s helpful towards everyone and is more of a friend than those other edibles. Another thing that Rot was not, is a series, however, now with Rot, The Bravest in the World it’s got a shot. With two books out starring Rot, it’s a series and the second spud proves to be worth the wait.
There is something visually jarring about What Miss Mitchell Saw that I just couldn’t put my finger on. When I saw the cover I loved it. In looking through the book there was something that I couldn’t identify that gave me a lukewarm feeling However, after looking at the book a second time I understood what caused that reaction and now see that as one of the bigger positives of the book. What educators, parents and somewhat patient readers will discover is the fascinating story of Maria Mitchell. She was a trailblazing astronomer whose upward gaze and talent awarded a crater on the moon named after her, the discovery of a comet and numerous other scientific accolades.
This week in all age comic books is no joke. Literally, there are no new humor books that will interest or be appropriate for elementary aged readers or up. There are a couple superhero or action comic books, but for the most part this is the dog days of summer, albeit a couple weeks early.
If you’re headed to the comic book store this week for DC Comic Books they’ll be arriving on Tuesday. All of the other comic books are still coming out on new comic book day, which is Wednesday. Our local comic book store is pulling all of the DC Comics that we want so that multiple trips aren’t needed.
Another note regarding Free Comic Book Summer, formerly Free Comic Book Day. Some of those free comic books are coming to stores throughout the summer in different weeks. For example, many of the free ones we were looking for aren’t released until later. A complete list of those comic books can be found at Free Comic Book Day.
Superhero
Science-fiction/Action
Southwest Sunrise is a sneaky illustrated book. At first impression, young readers (or those poetry adverse people like me…) might look at the text by Nikki Grimes and dismiss it as a poetry book with pictures. However, once it’s read to them (or when they read it….like me), they’ll realize that it’s a fabulous story about a young boy who is moving to New Mexico from New York. Is it a stealth poetry attack that you won’t mind because of the art by Wendell Minor? Or is it an illustrated story about a young kid adapting to an entirely new way of living-with poetic text to add some literary clues to add more insight?
Our kids love Scooby Doo. The oldest has been collecting the comic books since 2014. The youngest has gravitated more towards the screen incarnation of those meddling kids. As a matter of fact, just the other day we were out doing errands and our oldest shouted “look, there’s the Mystery Mobile”. It wasn’t an officially licensed vehicle or anything, just an old van that was painted to resemble their vehicle. All of this coincides nicely with this week’s Camp Warner Bros has Scooby-Doo!: WrestleMania Mystery! is the movie. Nothing Scooby Doo is complete without a Scooby Snack and this snack is utterly fabulous. Our kids loved eating it, helped make and even passed the health litmus test of our family’s snack police.
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