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.
One look at the cover the board book I Love Me by Sally Morgan and Ambelin Kwaymullina and you can tell it’s happy, full of energy and has an Outback vibe that we’ve never seen. Every page on this board book is corner to corner color with just a hint of enthusiasm that will shake up crawlers through kindergarten kids.
Queen of the Sea by Dylan Meconis doesn’t look like a graphic novel. For starters it’s as thick as most books that you’ll find on the adult best-seller list, that is to say it’s very thick. The subject matter also doesn’t typically lend itself to something that you’d associate with an engaging graphic novel. You see, Queen of the Sea is about an island that operates as a convent in the early 1500s.
You might’ve seen the press tour for Alien Superstar. I was skeptical of the book because my bias against celebrity authors. The jaded side of my personality sometimes thinks that the quality of the book will be less and that the author is simply coasting by on their fame in another profession. Alien Superstar is written by Henry Winkler and Lin Oliver and is a hoot of a book. It’s one that our fourth grade student read in three nights and could not put down. Curious about the book that he couldn’t stop raving on I picked it up and can attest to his impression.
My weird is not your weird. What I think is different, odd or not my normal could be your go-to entertainment. Quirky is a much better word for that. Everything can be quirky. It’s the way that your dog walks around the bush three times before using the bathroom. It’s the way that some creators accent their characters to a degree in their mannerisms to make just a bit more eccentric than the rest of us. Deadendia The Broken Halo is the second book in the series by Hamish Steele on Nobrow. It’s full on quirky for those readers 14 and up who want a beautifully illustrated story that’s crafted in another dimension, then wrapped in bacon and served with a side of friendship, monsters and angels.
I know this graphic novel, that’s what you’re thinking. You look at the cover and see three girls and a boy, all of whom are in middle school. They’re talking on the school bus, they all look happy and the graphic novel is called Making Friends. I thought I knew this graphic novel before reading it, thinking that it would have some tragic, Doofenshmirtz-type back story about the friends and what they’ve overcome. Instead, Making Friends is a joyful graphic novel about friendship, science-fiction, family and realizing when you’re in the right place. It’s a fast paced graphic novel that ages 12 and up will immediately relate to, but the book is appropriate for those readers 8 and up.
The Story That Cannot Be Told gives you the illusion of a very deceiving premise. It’s about Ileana, a young girl in communist Romania in WWII who has been sent to stay with her grandparents in the mountains. What’s surprising is that the book doesn’t focus on what you think it will. Instead, its story is all about telling stories and family. The result is a book that’s part fairy tale, historical snap shot, mythology and fictional story that feels real.
Graphic novels can be so much more than entertaining and fun to read. They can be educational!! Really, they can be and they’re so much more than what some parents, educators or kids might think that they are. The Earth Before Us series from Amulet Books is a great example of how much and how different a graphic novel can be. Mammal Takeover! is the third book in this entertaining and educational series that is about old school Earth.
Our eight year-old is in a Bad Kitty state of mind. He’s a reluctant reader who reads a couple levels below where he should. Bad Kitty is one of two things that I can count on him to read right now. Bad Kitty Does Not Like Thanksgiving has the character that he loves with its telltale grumpiness. If he were two years younger this would be the pumpkin butter jam to his turkey.