Books | Page 5 of 86

My Mummy Vs. Your Ghost continues the promise of the Versus Series

Why do middle school students read? A more accurate question to posit would be why don’t middle school students read more? I praise those in sixth-through-eighth grade who willingly read as it’s more commonly done under duress. It’s the kind of torture or discomfort that’s normally reserved for vampires who are shown sunlight as they climb the ceiling like a spider trying to escape its deathly rays. They just want that dark corner of the room, with the squinty whites of their eyes attempting to burn a hole through your conversation-starting soul; before they can revert to their dark, sullen place, much like an early teen. My Mummy Vs. Your Ghost is also known as Versus Series book 2 and manages to pull a Superman 2, Lethal Weapon 2 or The Empire Strikes Back.

My Mummy Vs. Your Ghost is the second book in The Versus Series by Paul Tobin and cements this series at one of the tops in MGLIT.

This book is awesome. This book series is spectacular

70 Puzzles You’ll Get Wrong: Insights from Puzzle Me Twice

The subtitle to this puzzle book by Alex Bellos is so true. I’m a relatively clever person so I approached each of the set ups in Puzzle Me Twice with, what I thought was, a calm head and a clear mind….and I got most of them incorrect. I rationalized it by saying that they were incorrect because once I read the correct answer I realized my response was too quick. Had I really taken my time the book would have confirmed to me the genius that I think I am. However, in my self-imposed course of humble pie, I jumped in the rabbit hole of Alex Bellos’ other puzzles and have lowered my genius peg down to humble puzzle novice.

Puzzle Me Twice is jammed with 70 deceivingly easy puzzles you’ll get wrong, but have fun doing them.

This is not the bad puzzle book that you seek

Coping with Burnout: Insights from Being With Busyness

Burnout, anxiety and overwhelm are all friends in the world of Inside Out. OK, burnout is more akin to Bill & Ted and overwhelm would undergo a Pixar name-change, but all of the characteristics that they represent are present in that world. Being With Busyness: Zen Ways to Transform Overwhelm and Burnout is by Brother Phap Huu & Jo Confino. It’s a self-help book on coping with the stressors that everyone has. My stress points are different than yours and usually revolve around people who look like me but are roughly 30 years younger. Does Being With Busyness shed new light on the issues that make us all a bit freaky?

Being With Busyness: Zen Ways to Transform Overwhelm and Burnout is a Buddhist/Zen/self-help book that’ll do the trick for some.

Being with Busyness is a contemporary zen primer

3X World Champ: The Kickboxer’s Wild Journey to Redemption

Men don’t read. I know that’s a gross generalization, but for every guy that reads a book there are probably three or four women that do the same thing, except the guys would brag about having just ‘read a book’. Guys are certainly more attracted to certain writers, like Stephen King, Brad Thor or other authors with last names of Marvel superheroes. 3X World Champ doesn’t have any of those things, yet guys will love this book and their wives will even borrow the book from them and read it before they can.

3X World Champ is non-fiction about a World-Champion kick boxer gone drug runner, to prison inmate and business entrepreneur set in the 80s.

Memoir, auto-biography, discarded script for Miami Vice,

Bunnybirds fills a graphic novel void that lives in elementary readers

It’s ok to have books geared more toward girls than boys. It’s also ok for boys to have books that mainly appeal to them. There are also some books that cross-over to both groups with varying degrees, but could have elements that interest each camp. Bunnybirds is a graphic novel, whose genre is typically associated with boys. However, this is one of the rare graphic novels that will appeal to girls just a little bit more than boys. There are dragons and action elements in Bunnybirds, but the main characters are bunnies with wings. If you suspect that your young reader could become a fan of the massive mglit juggernaut, Warriors, this graphic novel is the prep material for them.

Bunnybirds successfully fills a graphic novel void that lives in elementary readers. It’s one that mainly connects with girls, but has enough cross-over to not offend some boys that age.

Flying bunnies or hopping rabbits?

Penelope’s Balloons, a sublime color hug about change and habits.

Penelope’s Balloons, an illustrated book about a girl and her red balloons is a strong metaphor about OCD and overcoming aspects of it.

Penelope’s Balloons is a brightly-colored illustrated book about an anthropomorphic elephant and the 10 red balloons she always carries around.

Penelope is a friendly and quiet girl who happily jaunts around town with her ten, red balloons. She’s known for this and has come to depend on them being around at all times. How will she respond when a massive storms hits the park where she’s playing and blows her balloons all over town?

Penelope’s Balloons is a sublime color hug about change, habits, and learning about them both.

Color and negative space aplomb

Why You Need to Read My Vampire vs. Your Werewolf

The problem with a Paul Tobin book is that you want to read every word. That’s not really a problem per se, but you want to get to the end of it so that you can find out how all of this silliness ends. And we mean that in the fondest of ways. My Vampire vs. Your Werewolf takes a premise that elementary ages, middle school students and RPG gamers have kicked around since they were first staked or howled at the moon. The moment you mention the title your mind starts to play out how they would fight, what environment would be friendliest to each monster and how could such a battle realistically take place without attracting massive amounts of attention.

My Vampire Vs. Your Werewolf is MGLIT with an addictive premise that’s paced well with action throughout.

Think about the title and try not to read it

Discover Why Kids Love The First Cat In Space Ate Pizza #1,

Young readers and reluctant readers have more in common than they think. Reluctant readers in most cases just think that they don’t want to read. Assuming that we’re talking about young, elementary school ages, both groups have to find the vehicle that can get them to realize that reading is not punishment. It’s got to be a book so relentlessly fun, over the top silly that it commands young people to engage in something by themselves, for their own enjoyment. The First Cat In Space Ate Pizza is the first book in the series that takes its rightful place alongside Dog Man and Investigators as the go-to graphic novel series for ages seven and up. This book also came out a couple of years ago, so if you’re judging as to why it’s just being reviewed now, I say be curious, not judgmental.

The First Cat In Space Ate Pizza is the start of a beautiful graphic novel friendship for ages seven and up.

Like a cat video and a potato chip, but in a book