Daddy Mojo, Author at Daddy Mojo

Lizzy and the Cloud, an illustrated allegory and a great goodnight read

Allegorical illustrated books can be about many things or they can be about nothing at all. Maybe they reference amorphous feelings, or perhaps it’s just about a kid who’s having an off day. The tricky part in quantifying these books is that sometimes your interpretation of the book will differ from mine, but that’s OK because we’re both correct. Lizzy and the Cloud is an illustrated book of a Rorschach test that leads to an M. C. Escher painting that you’re looking at through dreamy, haze-colored glasses. And by that I mean, readers might come away from the book with different interpretations of what Lizzy and her cloud actually mean, but they’ll all be on the same page when it comes to singing the book’s praises.

Lizzy and the Cloud is a great good night book, with illustrations that speak beyond its text and a story ages 4 and up will smile at.

A great-goodnight book that can be read once or multiple times in a sitting

Crocs, a Sharks Inc. book that effortlessly hooks readers 9 and up

Upper elementary school readers and older want to be respected, and-to an extent, challenged when they read for fun. There comes a point when elementary and middle school readers become aware of the fact that the books that they read are a direct reflection of who they are. They’ve got the staples that most of them are reading in fourth and fifth, with a few brave souls venturing out to discover something unique. That funnel opens up much more in middle school. Crocs is our first encounter with a book in the Sharks Inc. book series by New York Times-Bestselling author Randy Wayne White. It checks off so many columns in what ages nine through 15 are looking for in a great fiction book that it resembles a dog’s shopping list at the meat market.

Crocs is realistic fiction that’s loaded with action and smarts that very few in this genre can match. It’s also jammed with STEM and real-world Florida vibes.

If you love to read, you’ll love this book

The Little Wooden Robot and the Log Princess, timeless excellence

Have you ever experienced something so awesome that you wish that you hadn’t seen it so that you could enjoy it for the first time again? Creepy Carrots was the last illustrated book to do this to us. On television, it was Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul, however, those shows are most certainly for adults or some teens. As much as I enjoyed that, it’s the all-age entries that are more impressive. The Little Wooden Robot and the Log Princess is an illustrated book that roars up alongside its contemporaries and happily rises to the cream of the crop. Even a casual glance at the cover, seeing the wood graphics on the spine and the dozens of hidden details that are lovingly drawn in give readers the impression that they’re in for something special.

The Little Wooden Robot and the Log Princess is an illustrated fairy tale that makes you want to believe. It’s smart, great for ages three and up and a timeless book for the ages.

A new classic. Your grandchildren will be reading this in a decade or two

Harriet’s Ruffled Feathers, an illustrated avian book that charms and educates

Can you believe people still wear fur coats? That’s what some people think. However, let’s take that idea, go back more than 100 years and imagine that real fur coats, as well as, other apparel, are the norm. Harriet’s Ruffled Feathers, The Woman Who Saved Millions of Birds examines that time when millions of birds were killed annually for the purpose of brightly colored feathers. Those feathers were then used to accessorize women’s hats. This was a time when garden parties and the women who attended them were all the rage.

Harriet’s Ruffled Feathers is the story of how the Audubon Society came to be, via a woman who realized that the plumes in her hat came with a birdly price.

You’d have to be a bird brain not to dig this book

Spider-Man: No Way Home rewards all who view it

Meta is a word that channels a phrase that’s used very frequently now. When I was a child meta wasn’t used too much and neither was porthole. Now those middle-elementary students are making porthole quips and the upper elementary kids are trying to grasp meta. Our first experience with the word, in a cinematic sense, was Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. Movies that make use of meta in their plot have certainly increased, but it’s great to see it when they successfully pull it off. Spider-Man: No Way Home is a superhero meta that weaves together all of the aspects that people love from the webhead’s movies, the MCU, and to an extent, movies overall.

Spider-Man: No Way Home is solid entertainment that delivers a meta style funhouse for fans, and a great time for casual viewers.

The MCU, via Sony in this case…finds its groove again

Lia Park and the Missing Jewel, rippingly shreds the opening to this series

Librarians realize when book trends jump the shark. Too many books are made that are too similar, that are too closely related in too short of a time period. Sometimes that window is mercifully short, other times it wears out its welcome. Books on teen vampires, diversity and post-apocalyptic thrillers with a plucky cast of upstarts come to mind as recent trends that flooded libraries with too much of that content. There are times though when a publishing void is filled with just the right amount of books that previously weren’t represented enough. This can be a tricky thing because savvy young readers know when requisite categories are simply being checked off or were ordered en masse because publishers wanted a book that had this or that. Lia Park and the Missing Jewel is not a book that fits into any of those categories. I have to state it like that because one might put the book in league with others if they simply gloss over its plot.

Lia Park and the Missing Jewel is the first book in a new series that combines familiar elements, but adds a great heel, real tension and more for a great act.

if you’re looking for a ground floor entry into a great series-this is your sign

Once Upon Another Time, escapist mglit that’s a fun, summer, anytime read

I have a thing against film biographies because I already know how they end. Once Upon Another Time feels like a biography because readers will feel like they know the characters, and certainly will recognize the setting where it all happens. There are giants. There’s a magic beanstalk that the giants have used to go down to where the humans live. However, there is also magic, invisible beings, faceless knights, and kings, both good and bad. The result is an mglit book that lives in the world of James Riley’s, The Half Upon a Time series, but is an entirely new, three-book offering that’ll please those readers aged nine and up.

Once Upon Another Time is great, escapist fun that’s set in the world James Riley created in Half Upon a Time and perfect for ages 9 and up.

This is great, go-to stuff for ages 9 and up

There Are Moms Way Worse Than You, funny prose with legs

The other day I saw a sticker on a car that said, “Baby up in this witch”, except it didn’t say witch. What an odd sticker, I thought. Would that parent be comfortable with their middle elementary-aged reading the sticker that’s on their car to other kids or adults? Thus, because I’m positing those thoughts one could quickly deduce that I was not a fan of using asterisks in the place of curse words. Mind you, I’m no puritan, I just want to have one conversation with my kids and not have to interpret, or hear them sound like a surly college student before they actually get there.

There Are Moms Way Worse Than You is funny, approachable and not what you’re probably expecting. It’s animal moms and how bad they are, presented in stanzas, will leave ages 12 and up in stitches.

This was such an unexpected treat-and will be for you too