Daddy Mojo, Author at Daddy Mojo

Odd Beasts proves that board books have a life past pre-K

Hello, little sponge of knowledge. Would you like some food? Board books speak to crawlers in a variety of ways. The vast majority of them are silly, building block-oriented books that teach colors, numbers, or the alphabet. It works like that in whatever language you’re learning, as a matter of fact, reading board or illustrated books, in a second language is a great way to learn vocabulary and some grammar. Odd Beasts: Meet Nature’s Weirdest Animals is a smart board book that’s meant for crawlers, aged two and up, but also goes north to those first and lower second grade students. For those of you keeping score, that’s a board book that can be interesting to young readers for five years, which is a massive spread in the Range Game on The Price is Right.

Odd Beasts: Meet Nature’s Weirdest Animals, introduces ages 2 and up to strange critters in a board book that demos through second grade.

A board book on odd Animals that demos past crawlers and into 2nd grade

Creepy and True: Bones Unearthed!, non-fiction that fires up readers

The Goldilocks paradigm is a floating rule that I use in elementary and middle school literature. It’s too young. It’s too old. There are too many pages. It’s too scary. It’s too princessy, etc. If a book skews too much one way or another it’ll alienate those ages or types that might be interested in it, but are scared off by something about the book. Bones Unearthed! gives our Goldilocks paradigm a cheeky grin, hugs it, and then welcomes readers of any porridge type as if saying, “all are welcome here”.

Bones Unearthed! is the #3 in the Creepy and True series, this time digging up things and telling history for ages 9 and up.

Non-fiction that draws in readers aged 9 and up

The Bones of Ruin is big scope sci-fi with an alt-steampunk edge

The Bones of Ruin is a big book. It’s the thick kind of upper mglit book that starts with that age range, but demos north for some readers. This is a story whose scope of action grows with each chapter and new character introduction and mysterious ability that they have. Aside from having one of the coolest titles I’ve seen in ages, The Bones of Ruin comes across as a book that will make the rounds for high school kids as a smart, alternate history tale that could possibly lead to the apocalypse.

The Bones of Ruin is the first book in a series about an immortal girl, circus freaks and the end of the world in Victorian England.

A meaty book on social outliers, shady characters and the end

Pizazz, the hyperkinetic intersection of graphic novel and chapter book

What attracts an elementary school reader to a book? They might be assigned to read it, as in Because of Winn-Dixie, it’s a book their older sibling had, it’s a subject matter they’re interested in or it has that thing that speaks to ages seven and up. Pizazz has that thing. It has a pre-teen on the cover who’s wearing a cape with a star on it. She’s on a turquoise-colored cover that’s complimented with neon orange dots interspersed among the bubbled white explosion. That collision of colors and energy carries on into the book as Pizazz sets its sights on being one of those books that elementary students reach for.

Pizazz is book enough to please adults who want kids to ‘read’, yet illustrated enough for ages 7 and up to actually do so.

Manic energy in its illustrations, text and story young readers want to discover

Middle School Bites: Out For Blood is fun, mglit want-to-read-it, incarnate

Our 12YO read Middle School Bites: Out For Blood so quickly that I thought he was trying to distract me from something else. It’s not I thought he was lying, but he got the book on Friday and had read it by Tuesday. Combine that timeframe with middle school, LEGO, Scouts video games, and something didn’t add up. He told me the plot of Out For Blood, I then read it for myself and had a similar experience, except I read it two days quicker. Apparently, I need to play more video games, buy more LEGO sets, or otherwise engage my time, or maybe not.

A howling good delight for ages 9 and up…… way up

Oddbird, an illustrated book on accepting folks and diversity

There is a lot for some people to like about Oddbird. It’s a charming story about fitting in and being yourself that utilizes concentrated areas of colors to drive home its point. This is an illustrated book that will really connect with some readers, all the while giving more readers the feeling that they’ve seen this story before. And they have, but every book speaks to readers in a different manner, doesn’t it? Oddbird’s grace is that it’s a very simple story that will have a direct line to pre-k through early second-grade students who want a happy, bird-centric look at being different.

Oddbird, an illustrated book for pre-k through early elementary with vivid colors about being yourself, even if you don’t do things the same or look like others.

It’ll hit some audiences in the right spot, but be redundant for others

So You Want to Build A Human?, elementary biology kids can’t resist.

Having spent a lot of time in elementary school libraries and taught hundreds of children that age I know that they do not mind reading non-fiction books. Granted most of them might reach for graphic novels or illustrated books initially, and they might scream or holler when presented with non-fiction, but that’s all for show. Once they dive into those truth-ridden books they’ll be happy, swim in knowledge, and regurgitate facts back to you with glee. So You Want to Build A Human? is one of those non-fiction, illustrated books. It’s an oversized, vividly illustrated look that looks at the major components and systems that make up you and me.

So You Want To Build A Human? is a biology book aimed at elementary kids and older via bite-sized chunks they can read.

Making biology fun for elementary school readers

The Collectors, steady, calm, curious storytelling for ages 4 and up

Kids love to explore spaces and imagine that the stick that they find outside is a dinosaur bone. The Collectors is an illustrated book that taps into that curious and playful spirit that kids of a certain age have. As with any discovery or adventure, the aspect of doing it, is only part of the story and sometimes the journey is the destination. In The Collectors, we meet Winslow and Rosie, two young girls who have amassed a huge collection of natural wonders but strive for something more. What follows is a trip into the countryside where the girls find some great examples of things that they haven’t seen or otherwise might not be attainable.

Easy going, old soul, curious and easy to embrace