Children's book reviews, all age comic books, Kidlit, mglit, movies, entertainment and parenting
Category: Books
These are books that kids will want to read-or should read, but will enjoy doing so. Board book, picture books, kid lit, elementary school books, middle school books, high school books, all age comic books and more will be talked about here.
Somewhere between reality competition shows, Marvel movies and the love of books lies Willow the Armadillo. She’s an armadillo who wants to be a hero. She also loves picture books. A way to engage both of her passions is to become a hero in a picture book. The result is a cute book that never quite boils over with interest, but will entertain kids four through six who are looking for animal fun.
Our eight year-old is what I envision me when I was that age. It’s not destructive or malicious, but impossibly active. I always wanted to be doing something, anything and if it engaged my hands, as well as my brain then the activity would’ve been a win/win for my parents. Alas, back in the “vintage 80’s” as my children call it, there were no Paint By Sticker books. That’s right kids, it was the dark ages of children’s interactive books and we had to walk to school uphill both ways. However, now, for kids aged six and up they can entertain themselves for hours with Paint By Stickers Kids Dinosaurs.
Ick! is the National Geographic Kids equivalent to bad words in another language. “Did you know that the Dung Beetle can push something that weighs 50 times more than itself”, our 10 year-old said as he came into my office. After he finished this tidbit of trivia he showed me a photo of the little creature doing just that. In my mind’s eye I saw the Dung Beetle from Larva, except I never knew that it was a Dung Beetle. I always thought of it as that smart beetle that pushes balls of poop around, much to the chagrin of the two larvas that always fought. Ick!, the book from National Geographic Kids had been in our house for less than an hour and our oldest son was already enthusiastically reading it and sharing things with us.
My knowledge on the digestion tracts of animals other than human is limited. Some domestic animals are in that Venn diagram, while jungle animals don’t have any representation. Sloths are jungle animals. I knew that sloths are slow movers, and had I known how infrequent they have bowel movements I would’ve loved Sloth Went the first time I read it. As it reads for people like me, it’s a soft entry into potty training or ad casual glance at the poop cycle of a very slow and cute animal. The
Alien Tomato is the kind of simple children’s illustrated book that gives a loving wink and nudge to the early adopters while playfully teasing those who are slow to accept. What’s great about the book is that its story is as equally entertaining for anyone on any side of the argument. Perhaps it’s best if we explain the plot of the book, then that description might be easier to draw parallels to children or even adults in your respective circles.
The Word For Friend has an inspiring message that is impossible to disagree with. The lead character is an anthropomorphic pangolin. To us, a pangolin is a dog-sized version of a roly poly with a long tail. Kemala has just moved to a new place and she doesn’t know the language. The kids in her class don’t speak what she speaks, everything sounds funny and it’s weird to hear the strange new sounds coming from her mouth.
Nicola Killen has a knack for seasonal books. She’s done other books which have a younger demographic and are really cute. It’s her other books that resonate with us, specifically, The Christmas Reindeer, The Little Rabbit and now, The Little Kitten. The My Little Animal Friend series is one that you’ll hold onto in your forever library. They effortlessly ooze mono-chromatic seasonal charm. Reindeer was about winter, ‘Rabbit’ about spring and The Little Kitten is about fall. None of the books are about a specific holiday, rather, they tell a short, illustrated story about an animal during that season. These books have interactive die cut pages that allow you a glimpse into what the story might look like. That, combined with the unique combination of black and white illustrations, with just a couple touches of color add up to a really magical book.
We love Rot. Rot, The Cutest in the World is a charming illustrated book about a mutant potato in a land of otherwise charming vegetables that are the cream of the vegetable. Rot is not. However, his attitude is positive; he’s helpful towards everyone and is more of a friend than those other edibles. Another thing that Rot was not, is a series, however, now with Rot, The Bravest in the World it’s got a shot. With two books out starring Rot, it’s a series and the second spud proves to be worth the wait.