Children's book reviews, all age comic books, Kidlit, mglit, movies, entertainment and parenting
It’s great to see the growth that JapanFest Atlanta has had over the past years. Our children have enjoyed the festival for the past three years and the older they get the more fun they have. This year will be the best yet for them because in the past year they’ve both discovered Pokémon. It’s because of that we’ve accepted that Anime Village, in addition to our previous year’s go-to fun spots will be frequented.
Continue reading JapanFest Atlanta 2017 needs to be on your go-to family events
I understand why people don’t enjoy martial arts films. However, I really enjoy them and also fully acknowledge that even when they’re bad, they can be very good. HBO has two Blu-Ray DVD releases out now that are under their HBO Asia Original Film series. Master of the Drunken Fist: Beggar So and Master of the Shadowless Kick: Wong Kei-Ying both have their moments and will be enjoyed by fans of martial arts films, but one of the m is more enjoyable.
Both of these films are Executive Produced by Cory Yuen who directed The Transporter and directed by Guo Jian-Yong who choreographed The Transporter films, Cradle 2 the Grave and others. It’s also important to point out that both films were filmed in Chinese, but have multiple choices for voice overs. For us the dubbing would’ve been a distraction so we watched them with the original audio track and English subtitles.
Continue reading A tale of two Masters from HBO Asia Films that martial arts fans will dig
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STEM is as STEM does and parents know that’s the path to children excelling in their education. But there are also the arts, creativity and letting your imagination go sideways that are also key aspects in making today’s students tomorrow’s leaders. So how does feeding dinosaur’s hot dogs and pizza factor into this? To answer that we need to jump into Microsaurs, Tiny-Raptor Pack Attack by Dustin Hansen and explore the small, yet large world he’s created.
Continue reading Microsaurs: Tiny-Raptor Pack Attack is fun, action based, STEM reading
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This week the new all ages comics might appear redundant, but they’re not. Some of this week’s titles have different art styles and age preferences. Namely there are two separate titles featuring Archie and Josie & The Pussycats, with one being modern and the other ‘classic’. Let’s take a look at five of the best all ages comics that are great for elementary students or older.
Archie
A tale of two Archies, three Archies actually. This week has Archie #23, as well as, Archie trade paperback Vol 4, that collects Archie issues 18-22. This is the new, modern Archie that’s more in line with Riverdale on the CW. It’s Jughead and friends in high school, with current problems and technology. This series will be of interest to grades 7 and up. For younger readers who want their Riverdale, dig into Betty & Veronica Friends Fall Digest #255. This is drawn in classic Archie style and the characters have simpler problems that usually revolve mistaken identities, petty jealousy or hamburgers. Grades 3 and will be OK for these ‘digest’ style books.
Yo Kai Watch
The art in the ongoing Yo Kai Watch comic book is manic, fun and what one would expect when looking at a typical Japanese manga. This is in comic book form, but the movement and scope of it seems larger than the 32 page package it comes in. This issue takes a look at Springdale in the future and readers in second grade and up will like this. Yo Kai Watch is one of the go-to all ages comics for younger readers that want to delve into ‘Pokémon’ style fun.
Mickey and Donald
Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck in their own one-shot book. At $5.99 this one if for the fans of the two of Walt Disney’s great creations. It’s 48 pages of new-to-you stories about a duck and a mouse. These stories might have been previously printed in another language and this is their first time in English.
Jim Henson Storyteller Giants
Jim Henson Storyteller are a series of mini-series comics from Boom Studios! In the past they’ve also done some on witches and now Jim Henson Storyteller Giants is available in graphic novel. It collects all of the individual comics that made up the Giants storyline which featured giant stories from all over the world. If you have a Middle Earth kid (or are one) then you’ll like this. The art style is such that it won’t attract younger readers, say eight or younger, but those 10 and up that like fabulous art with great stories will want more of this.
X-Files Earth Children are Weird
What if Mulder and Scully were children and went camping in the backyard? The shapes would all be aliens, strange noises would be monsters and snack time would consist of out of this world chips. X-Files Earth Children are Weird is a children’s book about these two, re-imagined as kids, simply letting their imaginations run wild. This is a book that’ll be great for ages 5 and up.
Humor
Superhero
Action/Science-fiction
Our seven year old ran into the office looking for something to read. He quickly picked up Unicorn Princesses Sunbeam’s Shine and asked me why I was reading it. From the bright yellow unicorn on the cover to the glitter in its hair and collar it’s obvious that this series is not intended for boys. “Eewww, I don’t want to read that”, he said, “but Susie would probably love to read it”. She’s his typical friend at school that loves unicorns, horses and more unicorns. In other words, The Unicorn Princesses book series by Emily Bliss on Bloomsbury Children’s Books are her jam.
Continue reading Unicorn Princesses is 7-10 year old, girl reading fun
Our seven year old doesn’t know who Thanos is. Truth be told, I don’t know the complete mythos of Thanos either, other than the fact that he’s the top of the food chain in villains for Marvel Comics. Guardians of the Galaxy 2 was a great movie. The monthly comic book is one of the most consistently entertaining comics for us and now Guardians of the Galaxy 1000 Dot-to-Dot Book by Thunder Bay Press continues in their line of challenging, yet achievable mind puzzles.
Continue reading Guardians of the Galaxy 1000 Dot-to-Dot adds up to fun for 7 and up
Future Quest was a mini-series put out by DC Comics in 2016. I was quite excited for it initially because it was bringing back some of the classic Hanna-Barbera characters. When the mini-series came out I was lukewarm to it at best because it was light on action. While it was great to see some of the old school characters being introduced to new audiences it left us wanting more. Apparently that was the purpose of Future Quest all along because now that series has ended and in its place if Future Quest Presents: Space Ghost.
Continue reading Future Quest Presents: Space Ghost is beautiful intrigue for 9 and up
Size doesn’t matter, but sometimes it helps. Sea Monkey & Bob is an early reader book from Aaron Reynolds with illustrations by Debbie Ridpath Ohi. It’s about a Puffer Fish and a Sea Monkey. They’re swimming around the sea, talking about their fears, specifically, one is scared that they’re going to sink while the other one is nervous about floating. Can you guess which animal has which concern?
Continue reading Sea Monkey & Bob grow on you like a barnacle
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