Daddy Mojo, Author at Daddy Mojo

A Year Full of Celebrations and Festivals makes learning fun

A Year Full of Celebrations and Festivals is the kind of book I would’ve loved as a child. Growing up in the United States I knew about all of our festivals and holidays, but what really intrigued me were the international ones that my classmates or neighbors celebrated. I wanted to try the foods that they ate on those days and had umpteen questions about why they did or believed certain things. When I got older those questions only got more involved as I worked at EPCOT and actually became friends with people from all over the world. A Year Full of Celebrations and Festivals by Christopher Corr and Claire Grace is a reference book for grades three and up that takes a look at over 90 celebrations from around the world. It is a reference book, so it’s encyclopedic in nature. However, it’s also loaded with illustrations and brightly colored pages that entice young readers to keep turning the pages.

A Year Full of Celebrations and Festivals is a well constructed book that educates and entertains kids on global happenings.

It’s a reference book. It’s fun to read. It’s a unicorn.

What Breathes Through Its Butt? is fresh air for curious kids

Our family has lots of non-fiction books on animals, nature, and science in the house. A reference book is a great thing to have around because you never know when school-age children will need something in it. Granted there is that whole internet thing, but a book allows for that random sense of discovery that online searching simply doesn’t satisfy. However, odds are that all of, or almost all of your non-fiction animal reference books are encyclopedic, or listing in the presentation. That certainly leads to discover and learn about new creatures, but might not motivate kids to read it page to page. What Breathes Through Its Butt? is a non-fiction book on animals, but it’s unlike any critter book you or your kids have seen.

A Stem book for elementary kids that asks questions

Bad Kitty Goes on Vacation races ahead in full color

Our youngest has always loved Bad Kitty. As a book series though, Nick Bruel’s lovable, paranoid, manic, and odd kitty has been much like the titular character. They felt like a graphic novel in its story and fun approach to it, yet its delivery had more in common with manga. That is most likely due to the fact that most non-Asian readers are used to having stories in color unless it’s in the funny pages. If that’s the case, then you’d probably categorize those who still use ‘funny pages’ in conversation as old and outdated. I’m looking at me. All of this rambling aside, Bad Kitty Goes on Vacation seeks to solve that quandary by being in full color.

It’s great Bad Kitty-and it’s in color

Revver, The Speedway Squirrel is a great mid-elementary read

Getting an elementary-aged or early middle-grade child to want to read can be tricky. We all know that they need to read. We also know that later elementary ages and up, are most likely at a point where they’re reading to learn, instead of learning to read. If those students are in the former category but should be in the latter, then their schooling will be much harder than it needs to be. Our youngest child could be in that category, so we’re full-on trying to find books that speak to mid/upper-elementary readers. For some kids, Revver, The Speedway Squirrel is that fast racing vehicle that combines chapter book sensibilities, with the fun, goofy, surreal laughs that some kids want to read.

Revver the speedway squirrel is great mid-elementary laughs

All age comic books for February 3

Happy New Comic Book Day! That happens every Wednesday for most of you, like Boom! Studios, IDW, Marvel, Image, Oni Press, Action Lab, and Archie Comics. For those of you keeping score, that’s every comic book house except for DC Comics, whose books come out on Tuesday. Regardless of who you’re celebrating, make it a good one and phone ahead to your local comic book store so that they can save books for you. Now, let’s look at the all-age-comic books that are arriving this week.

Our oldest son is 11 now and he’s been enjoying The Amazing Spider-Man for two years now. The Amazing Spider-Man #101 is being re-released in a facsimile edition. This is cool because it’s the first appearance of Morbius and the facsimile edition means that it’s printed the way it was in the 70s, vintage ads, letters to the editor, and everything. This comic book, even in its modern incarnation is fine for a 10-year-old. There might be one or two bad words in the comic book, but it’s nothing they’re not hearing in school or on TV.

Marvel Action is one of the best all-age titles out there. It’s a team-up between Marvel Comics and IDW Publishing. Marvel Action Origins #1 is out this week and takes a look at two Marvel characters and their origin story. Granted, we need another Peter Parker origin story like a hole in the head, thankfully the other origin story in this comic is Thanos. Each subsequent issue will also feature two characters from the MCU.

What are you reading this week? Let us know in the comments or hit us on Twitter to share the all-age comic book 411 that we’re missing.

Issues, all age comic books, they got em.

Little People, Big Dreams, Charles Darwin is go-to, smart fun for 4 and up

“This is not a baby book”, I told our nine-year-old. “Are you sure, it looks like a baby book”, he said with an unsure look. I understand why he questioned us. Little People, Big Dreams Charles Darwin looks like a book that demos young, and it can be. It does so in a way that the content is presented younger and certainly speaks to audiences that aren’t of his mature student behavior or the third-grade vintage. To us, it’s a book that takes a very smart subject and brings it down to a level that he can easily understand. This series is fun, engaging, makes young readers think about real people, and does so in a way that second graders can understand.

This series is great and this book is awesome.

Send A Girl!, non-fiction for agenda girls that wants to be loved

As a rule, I recommend children’s non-fiction books to young readers. I work in elementary schools, know the librarians who run their libraries and try to weave in real stories whenever possible. Based on that criteria, Send A Girl! by Jessica M. Rinker, with illustrations by Med Hunt is an illustrated book that will be reading candy for some niche audiences, but that’s it. Send A Girl! The True Story of How Women Joined the FDNY is about the first crew of firefighters, which included Brenda Berkman, who became the first women to join the FDNY.

It means well, but comes off as stale and preachy

Amy Wu and the Patchwork Dragon slays the sophomore slump

In a literary corner in the elementary book wing of life, Lola Dutch and Amy Wu are best friends, hang out together and do crafts. Lola Dutch is a ridiculously cute rhyming illustrated book about a young girl and the power of imagination. Amy Wu is the titular character in the series from Kat Zhang and Charlene Chua that is just as entertaining. However, Wu demos a little bit higher and shows aspects of Asian, specifically Chinese heritage in a way that’s fun, relatable, and educational for elementary-aged readers. Amy Wu and the Patchwork Dragon is the second book in the series and continues its broad appeal to young readers aged four and up.

We love a sophomoe book series that surpasses its first release