Books | Page 17 of 86

Spy Camp The Graphic Novel, resistance is futile, read and enjoy

Recently I was surprised to find out that Enola Holmes was a series of books before it was a Netflix movie and before it was a graphic novel. To some folks, I realize that fact sets my surprise barometer rather low, akin to the water is wet crowd. For upper elementary, through middle school readers the Spy School series of books by Stuart Gibbs is a bulletproof vehicle for fun, fast-paced reading that helps those ages fall in love with literature. When Spy School The Graphic Novel came out I was less than impressed. As the series of mglit books goes, so goes the graphic novels and Spy Camp The Graphic Novel is upon us. And perhaps it took the Enola Holmes graphic novel to brush off our burs, but Spy Camp The Graphic Novel is an entertaining and fun book.

Spy Camp The Graphic Novel finds its graphic groove as a series and jumps into the same entertainment vibe as the books.

That’s great that you loved the novels, this graphic novel is great now too

The Cat, The Owl And The Fresh Fish, a timeless tale, great art, mixed results

Old school is not a pejorative in some cases. The Cat, The Owl And The Fresh Fish is old school is the right kind of way. It feels like a fable and has the repetition that’s associated with fairy tales. There is also a fresh, unknown quality about the book that lends it to feeling as if it’s been passed down from a generation. However, there’s one aspect of it that could divide some readers or their audience.

The Cat The Owl And The Fresh Fish has all of the elements of a classic fable, but its use of cursive might belie its timeless intentions.

Great art…..but that cursive tho…….

Ready-To-Read Super Gross, baits the STEM hook for 2^nd and 3^rd graders

Teach a child a foreign language and the first things that they’ll remember is the profanity, slang or pickup lines. In other news: kids who only study one year of Spanish make the world’s worst interpreters. As a testament to that, it’s been more than 25 years and I can still say “you’re very cute” in Norwegian. The gross facts from reference books, those strange blurbs about animals that they’ll never see are always the first ones to get read. How-To-Read Super Gross is a book series that leans into that tendency and gives it a big, yucky hug. What’s In Your Body? is the big font combination of photographs and illustrations and witty dialogue that emerging readers crave.

Ready-To-Read Super Gross, What’s in Your Body? perfectly sets up and answers STEM things that first through third graders want to read and talk about.

TAstey STEm for ages 5 and up

The Sublime Ms. Stacks, a divisive drag show drama in a library

The only way that The Sublime Ms. Stacks could be more polarizing is if each book came with a lightning rod. There is no gray area on this illustrated book. It’s a book that can be admired for its forthright thinking but will also leave many wondering how it could be so tone-deaf. The Sublime Ms. Stacks will leave most readers wondering why the book exists, while a couple of them will say that it didn’t come onto the scene soon enough.

The Sublime Ms. Stacks preaches to the choir, whichever one you’re on, and will fire up the other side, which might be the point.

Why ask why, it’ll speak to the choir-both sides of them

I Can’t Draw, an immediate illustrated book classic for elementary school

Max is an elementary school-aged kid. He also says that he can’t draw. I Can’t Draw is a great time of an illustrated book that dances between the first and third person as Max tries to convince readers that he can’t draw. This is the sibling book of The Day the Crayons Quit and Battle Bunny, which represent two fabulous books that are in our forever library. It teaches a mild lesson without being preachy, but has the main goal of being fun to read, which it effortlessly does for kindergarten through third, or maybe even fourth grade.

I Can’t Draw is an illustrated book that is funny from the get-go and only gets better the more times that you read it.

Make room on the forever book shelf for this one

Inner Workings, a cut-through, STEM, curiosity book for a couple of pages

I taught a fifth-grade student who drew detailed illustrations of automobiles in his spare time. They were surprisingly intricate, exterior drawings of cars with some having overview representations of their engines. While many kids who are that age like cars, this student’s passion and talent certainly went to the next level. Inner Workings is an engineer’s look at how just over two dozen things that kids see on a daily basis work. The illustrations in the book mainly consist of cross-section pictures that are done in a classic-retro style. It’ll initially draw in those mechanical engineer kids, as well as those who are just curious about how the soft-serve ice cream machine works.

Inner Workings is a how-it’s-made book that’ll preach to the STEM, engineering crowd, but could’ve yelled at everyone with more narrative.

The STEM Choir rejoices, but it could’ve reached wider and higher

The Golden Age, 2,000-year-old poems retold for kids today

We’re not worthy, quoted Wayne Campbell. The Golden Age is a children’s illustrated book that presents 17 of Ovid’s poems in story form. Without context, the writings from a two-century deceased poet that Augustus exiled to the Black Sea are not the sort of readings that tempt young audiences. However, when it’s paired with esoteric artwork that has a timeless appeal to it, combined with this style of writing it’s elevated to something greater than the sum of its parts.

The Golden Age is presented here in a package that’s retold for children. The art is gorgeous and the succinct text is perfect for those kids and creation folk tales.

Ovid, dropping knowledge like he did 2,000 years ago

STEAM Tales The Wizard of Oz, the text and science of Dorothy’s tale

STEAM Tales The Wizard of Oz is not a word-for-word retelling of the classic book by L. Frank Baum. Nor is it a twisted version of the Yellow Brick that changes the tone and heart of the story in favor of accentuating certain characters. This is a truncated version of The Wizard of Oz text that inserts four instances of science, and two STEAM activities for kids to do in each chapter. It’s not as far-fetched or as uninteresting as you might think, let’s take a look at an example.

STEAM Tales The Wizard of Oz retells aspects of the classic story, spotlighting engineering, math and science aspects of the yellow brick road.

Follow the STEAM Yellow brick road